MTLL Mike's Time in the Limelight MW
by Randomness is Bliss
Summary: I looked into her eyes, seeing that in them was unveild truth, and this wasn't some sick joke. So I, Mike Newton, was was face to face with a real life vampire. And I knew with a great fear, that I loved her.- Please Reveiw! first fanfiction!
1. Cold Eyes

Chapter one

Chapter one

Cold eyes

"No!" I shot up, gasping for air, only to be pulled back down by the mess of sheets I was ensnared in. _It was just a dream Mike, no big deal._

I untangled myself and stumbled out of bed, resulting in my head connecting with the floor. That's it, no more late-night horror movie marathons. I sat up on my hard wood floor and tried to sort my thoughts.

I was always a sucker for a good horror, and I often found myself staying up until some beastly hour in the morning watching the gruesome unfold before me. I loved it all, from something as futuristic as a sci-fi shoot down to something as classic as a bloody vampire flick. But I also had over-active imagination, setting off repercussions such as the grisliest of nightmares, if I ever got clam enough to sleep.

But there was one good thing about being addicted to the world of the impossible was, just that, impossible. In the morning when I wake up from even the most horrific nights I can always laugh at myself, that there was no such thing as vampires or werewolves, or anything of that sort. I chuckled, why do I put myself though all this torture?

I got up and dressed for school, and with a second look at the clock I realized how far behind I was.

Crap. It was 7:45; I was going to have to skip breakfast…again. I sprinted down from my attic bedroom, snatched my bag from the front room sped out the door, and came to a screeching stop when I got to my car. Wasting no time, I chucked my bag into the passenger seat and got in myself, slamming the door as my engine whirred to life. Once at school I made a mad dash for my first class and made it, with only seconds to spare.

No longer racing the clock, I crossed the room and sank into my usual seat. I relaxed and closed my eyes, grateful that I wouldn't have to face Mrs. Crabapple about being late. Like her name, that would have been a true horror story.

I managed to get a degree of peace, and then Jessica decided to make her appearance.

"Hi Mike!" I opened my eyes to see her sitting next to me, beaming. Trig was the only class I had with her, but still it gave me a migraine.

I forced a smile "Hi Jess."

Apparently that's all the permission she needed. "So did you hear the news?"

"What news?" what poor innocent has she decided to gossip about now?

Her eyes widened. "So you didn't see her?"

Here comes the migraine. "I don't know who your talking about Jess." I eyed her carefully, her eye brightened, and I braced myself. This only happened when she had an especially large amount of dirt to dish out.

"There's a new Cullen!"

"Mr. and Mrs. Cullen had a kid?!" when did this happen?!

"No!" Jessica rolled her eyes and sighed like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They adopted another kid, our age too. She's supposed to be starting school toady."

Nothing was making sense. "But why adopt at seventeen? Wouldn't she have already been adopted when she was younger?" no parents until you where seventeen, wow.

"No, she's another relative of theirs. Apparently her parents died recently and she needed to finish up high school before getting a place of her own, so the Cullens took her in."

"But why-

"Silence please. This is School not social hour." The room silenced and everyone turned to see Mrs. C at the front of the room. "Now will everyone please turn to page three hundred and five in your text books…"

The classes went by in a blur, until finally, lunch came around. I got out of government, right behind Bella and…_him._ I still liked Bella, though it seems I have to cope, now that she's _engaged._ I didn't like the way _he_ always looked at her, like she was weak, and something could jump up and harm her any second. And sometimes-I hated this with a passion-like she was something to _eat._

With all those angry thoughts clouding my mind, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I slammed into something hard and cold, and then I was on the ground. I looked up, expecting to see a brick wall or a pole, but the only thing obstructing my view was a girl.

She was beautiful, though not nearly as stunning as that Hale girl, but who could beat that? When she saw me on the ground, her dark eyes widened.

"Oh- sorry, I wasn't paying attention." She gave me an awkward smile, "Sorry about that."

Of course, all I could do was sit there and gawk like an idiot. We where silent for a few moments; I sat there, all traces of thought banished from my mind, and she was standing there looking… shy? I couldn't read the look on her face; it seemed distant, almost like she didn't know what to do.

"Um…here." She kneeled down and started to collect my things.

"Wait, I can get some of that." I scrambled to get at least some of my things, not wanting to look totally useless. But she already had them all in her arms, stacked neatly on top of each other.

"There you go." She handed me the textbooks in an odd fashion, avoiding contact with my skin as the text switched owners. _Great, she must think I have some contagious brain disorder or something._

I glanced up to thank her, but was speechless when her eyes met mine. They where as black and as cold as ice, but somehow, they made me melt. Hard as rock, but as soft as velvet… and for the first time in a long while I felt my face heat up.

We sat there for another long moment; finally she averted her eyes and stood up in a single fluid movement. I hastily followed with a clumsier upward rise, finding that when we both were standing, we met eye to eye. The same height to the near centimeter.

"Um… thanks." This was embarrassing. "So, are you the new Cullen girl?"

"Yes, Danielle, but I prefer Dani." She looked up at me through her thick black lashes, " and yours is…?"

I was at a loss for words, and for a second I forgot my name. Then I finally found my lips again. "Mike Newton."

How did she do that?

"So…Mike…I guess we should be heading for lun-" A gust of wind gushed from behind me and blew her short black hair out of her face, stopping her in mid-sentence. She froze, her eyes suddenly hostile, and I could have sworn that I heard a low hiss. Then abruptly, she spun around and left at speeds just short of running.

My feet where glued to the ground. I was so scared, did she hate me? If so why? And her eyes…

But a voice at the back of my mind told me that more than my social apparatus was at steak here. Much more.

Shuffling the rest of the way to lunch, I reviewed every action we went through amidst our meeting. I don't _think_ I did anything offensive, but I wasn't sure.

The lunchroom was already full of chattering students, so I hurried up to get my food. Due to recent events, most of my appetite had left, so all I bought was an apple.

I had no idea what I would do; she would probably be there, eating with the rest of the Cullens. May be if I confront her, she would explain what had happened back there, to tell me that it was just a simple mistake. But I doubted it.

But when I was able to pick out our table from the others, I didn't see her there. In fact, I didn't see any of the Cullens there.

I sat across from Bella; worry etched her features, and she kept giving the door weary glances.

"Hey, Bella, where are they? The Cullens I mean."

"They…went out to get some air." Her tone implied more.

"Did they get into a fight?" for some reason, I felt slightly concerned.

"No… Dani was… nervous about something." Bella shifted in her seat, she was clearly leaving something out.

"Oh, okay." I didn't want to pry; she looked incredibly uncomfortable as is.

For the rest of the lunch period, we waited in silence, the both of us to thought bound to eat. After what seemed like ages, Edward and Alice finally entered the emptying lunchroom. But Dani was nowhere in sight.

Bella jumped from her seat, closing the distance between her and Edward. They embraced each other, bringing back some of that old affliction dealing with their relationship.

When Bella's face had disconnected from Edwards chest, he whispered something into her ear. Her eyes grew wide with shock.

"Do you think he's her-

"Bella," Alice interrupted her "I think you and Edward should talk this over in class." She was specking abnormally loud, like she was trying to point out an unspoken factor. Bella's eyes flickered to me, and she nodded, seeming to understand whatever Alice was trying to get across.

She looked to Edward and he nodded, and with that the two of them made their way out of the lunchroom.

Alice turned to follow, but before taking another step, she turned to me. Her Topaz eyes met mine, and she gave me a little smile. Then she turned on her heal and left me with even more questions then I had before. Has this world finally gone mad?!

Somehow in the brain-fogged state I was in, I managed to make my way to Biology. I took my usual seat, setting my textbooks in the space next to me. I was the only one in class with a table to myself, a result of Jessica being forced to switch periods so she had government instead of biology this hour, and I thanked the high heavens for that. It wasn't that I hated her; it was just impossible to concentrate on a single word the teacher's saying when you have somebody who just won't shut up as a lab partner.

The classroom slowly filled, and soon the entire class was present. Suddenly, a blast of moistened air blew in from the opening door in the back of the classroom. That was odd; I thought everyone was already here. I turned to see who it was; in fact the entire class (excluding Edward and Bella) peered back to see the newcomer. Though, I already had a hunch of who it was.

Dani walked down the isle with her onyx eyes cast down. While passing Edward, he reached out and grabbed her by the elbow. He got up and gently pulled her to the side of the room, and turned her around so that her back was against the wall. I couldn't tell what was happening, Edwards back blocked my view of Dani's face to tell how she was reacting.

An eternity and a day later, they finally seemed to reach a verdict. Edward finally let her pass, but even when he took his place next to Bella, he watched after her with a worried expression. Dani on the other hand, was deprived of all emotion, her face blank as she handed a slip of paper to the teacher before going to sit in the last lab seat in the room. And guess where said seat was right beside, you got it, _moi_.

She lowered herself onto the stool, sitting on the extreme edge of the seat and leaning away from me. _Maybe she's just shy around strangers._ But remembering that death glare she gave me before trumped that theory, along with sending a shiver down my spin. Why was I so scared? She was only one person, why should I care that she hates my guts? But there was something about the way she acted, like she set off some alarm deep in my mind, telling me to high tail it before she did something. Almost like she was a…predator. And I was stuck as prey.

Mr. Banner called the class to attention and turned my gaze to him, thankful to have a distraction. For most of the class, I managed to keep a semi-stable stature about being next to Dani. Once I even stole a glance in her direction, big mistake. I was re-greeted with her death glare again, and I could almost feel the daggers shooting into my skull. Not the best feeling to have.

What was her problem? Never before have I had someone hate me with such intensity. And now, I was ticked. There was no way I was going to sit there and let her hate me without reason. The Cullens have already beaten me enough, but now, this is where the gavel falls.

I was so engulfed in my inner rantings, when the bell rang; and I jumped nearly ten feet into the air. Dani was the first one out the door, already in her next class before the rest of us could even pick up our pencils.

That's it, I've seen enough. I was going to find out her secret, and then put a stop to this, even if it kills me.


	2. Unintentional Cliff diving

**A/N: Ello! Welcome to my first fan fiction! I'm still working on my writing skills, so… that might explain why the first chapter was choppy. In other words… reviews are ****GREATLY ****appreciated. I don't care if you tell me that I'm a hopeless writer wannabe and will never be able to successfully write anything without burning people's eyes out. All I care is that you also tell me how to improve along with it, that means I will be able to improve, right?**

**So, anyway… on with the disclaimers!**

**Me: Bwaha! Mike, do my bidding!**

**Random dude materializes next to my computer**

**Dude: Whoa man! Before you do that you have to disclaim this property!**

**Me: What if I don't wanna?**

**Dude: Then you will never see your precious beaten-up-but-still-readable copy of Twilight ever again!**

**Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! **

**Dude: Say it.**

**Me: But it makes me depressed.**

**Dude gives stern look**

**Me: Fine. I don't own anything except Dani.**

**Dude: Here's Twilight. Now, don't you feel better?**

**Me: No.**

**Dude: Tough toenails.**

**Me: Tough toenails?**

**Dude: you got a problem with that?**

**Me: Uhhh…**

**Dude dematerializes and I continue writing.**

Never before in my life had I obsessed over something like this. But for the past three weeks, every spare thought was devoted to her and her alone.

But guess what?

I still know nothing about her and have no idea what happened on that first day. I was now seriously considering on moving on to something else, like, I don't know, solving one of unknown mysteries of the universe instead. At least that would be easier.

Now, here I was, two weeks away from graduation and haven't uttered a word to the girl. I was running out of time, after I get that diploma, I will probably never see her again.

I gazed out the bus window, not really seeing anything pass by. Today was our senior year trip to Mt. St. Helens, Four hours in a bus packed as tightly as sardines in a can only to spend two hours on some ash-encrusted rock on the far border of the state. And did I mention that I got stuck sharing a seat with Jessica? Oh how I will be enjoying this.

But after four hours of stale air, claustrophobic conditions and endless chatter, I realized that the ride there wasn't as much as a living hell as I thought. Even though I had lost most of my hearing I only got close to passing out from a heat stroke twice, a new record high. But miraculously, I made it there in one piece.

Everyone slowly filed out of the bus, and I finally got out into some fresh oxygen, along with Jessica chattering closely behind. When the bus was drained of all it's occupants, a park ranger came to speak to us, telling us the "rich history and fascinating wildlife" of Mt. St. Helens. But during the lengthy speech on "the differences between Maples and Oaks" I finally saw her.

Dani was standing at the very edge of the crowd, along with Bella, Edward, and Alice. She looked bored, examining every crack in the pavement or staring off into space. _Now we have something in common, we're both bored out of our minds._

Suddenly it hit me. What was it that made her such an enigma? Was it that she seemed to cut herself off from other people? Or maybe it was that chill that runs down your spine whenever you speak to her… and those cold, icy eyes…

"Mike!" Jessica snapped her fingers in front of my face, breaking my trance. "Mike, snap out of it! The ranger stopped talking ages ago!"

I looked around to see that she was right, the rest of the class had separated into smaller groups, some heading down the trail while others loitered around near the safety rails that lead of into a steep drop. I felt my pulse quicken when I didn't see Dani amongst the others, afraid that she had somehow vanished into thin air. But sure enough, I caught sight of her pale figure. She was over by the handrails, leaning onto a section and looking out over the miles of forest and mountain. There was no sign of Alice Bella or Edward, therefore signaling the ideal conditions for my much planned 'chat'.

But I hadn't even taken three steps before someone else moved in. Nearby, some football players where screwing around, and one of them, Jack had taken notice of Dani's lonesome state.

"Hey." Jack moved over next to her, leaning casually on the handrail. To casually. "You look a little lonely standing here all by yourself."

He tilted his head, waiting for an answer. But Dani didn't move a fraction of an inch, continuing to stare off into the green masses below. This didn't sit to well with him.

"Oh, come on. Don't be like that. All I want is a simple greeting." And then, being the egotistic pervert he is, _he reached up for her shoulder_. I felt a sudden swell of anger, and something inside of me wanted to go over and tell that flirt to back off.

But Dani was already a step ahead of me. Before he had even come close to contact, she whipped around and swatted his hand away like it was some annoying fly. But that was nothing compared to the black glare she gave him. It appeared to immobilize him, and if I hadn't known better, I would of mistaken her for a gorgon with those effective results.

Then without another word, she spun on her heal and stormed down the path, disappearing behind the brush of a sharp right turn. Without a second thought, I followed her. It didn't take me long to find her, after going a short ways down the path I spotted her sitting off the edge of a steep incline.

I had only traveled a few feet when I froze. From the trail, what Dani was sitting on had appeared to be a slope. No big deal, right? But upon approach, that seemingly innocent slope, transformed into a menacing cliff. My entire body tightened, I was afraid of heights, even three story buildings scared the crap out of me. And now, I was facing a gaping monster, a gaping monster that Dani was sitting on the extreme edge of.

Sucking in a deep breath, I eased my way down, until I was only a few feet away from her. _Only a little bit farther…_

Then the world went flying. I had taken a step on some loose soil, you know, the kind that_ looks_ sturdy but it ends up crumbling at your feet? Well, that's exactly what happened. I took a step and the land practically disintegrated under my feet, and I hit the ground with a loud _thud_.

Apparently, there was a _lot_ of loose dirt on this particular cliff, and before I could even catch my breath, I was sliding down into the abyss. I was frantically trying to get a hold of something, anything that would keep me from falling, but with no luck. And so, now screaming at the top of my lungs, I was in open air. Flying…falling.

**A/N: Bwaha! I has left you with a cliffy! Now, if you want to find out Mike's fate you must… REVIEW! BWAHAHAHAHA!! **

**But really, I have decided that I would put up the next chapter if I get up to at least five reviews. And, come on people, that's child's play. I could of asked for ten or even twenty! But I am going to go easy on you wonderful folk who take your time reading my work. So please! I want to know if my writing is crap or not! **

** With all good intentions,**

** MidnightWalker**


	3. Hearing an undead angel

A/N: Sorry for the extreme delay

**A/N: Sorry for the extreme delay! I know I said five reviews but… Mike and Dani's story has to be told! But for the two reviews that I did get, they where 100 awesomeness. So… with my having nothing more to say… on with the disclaimers!**

**Mike: Hi, I'm Mike.**

**Dani: And I'm Dani!**

**Mike: MidnightWalker does not own anything.**

**Dani: except me!**

**Mike: So on with the show!**

You know how they say when you're about to die, your life flashes before your eyes? Well, that almost happened to me. Memories flashed before my eyes all right, but they where not of priceless moments of my childhood or photos of my accomplishments. No, they where about something completely different.

They held the crystal-clear image of Dani, from the very first time I had laid eyes on her to what I had saw just moments ago. That was all I had, three weeks of stolen glances, icy contact, and burning eyes. But that was enough for me, and I hoped that she was still safe at the tip of the cliff, and that I hadn't somehow knocked her off with me. I would never be able to forgive myself for that.

Suddenly, I felt something glacial grasp me. _Was I dieing? That's weird; I didn't even feel an impact…_

"Tuck in your head and don't move and inch." The voice flowed like honey, smooth, calm and golden. Perhaps that of an angel?

Then every thing came to a shuddering stop.

My eyes snapped open, meeting eye to eye with Dani, and above her, the towering cliff. We where on the ground, and somehow, I wasn't a Mike pancake.

I tried to get up, but realized that I wasn't on the ground, but in fact being held by Dani. She gently placed me onto the rocky ground and bent over me, her eyes scanning me for injury.

"Are you alright?" her golden eyes met mine, making my heart swell.

But then I remembered the drop. "How did you do that?"

Her porcelain brow furrowed, "Mike, I didn't do any thing."

"I fell off a cliff and I don't have scratch on me, and you call that nothing!" I got to my feet and she rose along with me, "You caught me! And somehow you made it out without even getting your shoes scuffed!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Mike, are you sure your okay?" Worry etched her face, but I could also see it starting to harden into that far to familiar emotionless mask.

I was starting to get ticked. "You bleeding well do know what I'm talking about! What you did back there is physically impossible, and no amount of denial will change what I saw!"

"Mike…"

"Don't _Mike_ me! I knew you where hiding something! Granted that I never expected this, but still! Your like… a hero!"

I should have never uttered those last words. The instant they left my mouth her face froze over, completely cold and sharp. And her eyes… they seemed to darken immediately, never before had I seen her this…deadly.

"Never call me that again, I will never be anyone's hero, only their worst nightmare. And that includes you, Mike." She hissed.

"What do you mean?" my post-saving high was wearing off, and it was being quickly replace by fear. What did she mean by 'worst nightmare'?

Then the floodgates opened, "Don't you get it? I'm dangerous. What you saw back there is nothing, I could have _killed_ you if I wasn't careful!" Her eyes where wide with rage, gluing me to the spot where I stood, even though every part of my being was screaming, "Run!"

Then I got it, the reason why she isolated herself from everyone, her alien features, and the incredible strength…

"Your not human, are you? At least, not completely." Again, one of those phrases that I wished I could take back, not completely human? Come on, Mike, this is real life, not one of you movies!

But her reaction startled me, instead of looking even more enraged and offended, she clamed, expression sank into a solemn state. "What do you think? What if I really some sort of sick creature, a monster, instead? And if so, why aren't you running?" Her voice was level, controlled, but I could sense that she was tense.

"I don't think you're a monster Dani, far from it, if you where what you say you are, then why did you save me?" I averted my eyes, avoiding that powerful gaze.

"Not everything is as it seems, mate." She muttered softly.

"But actions speak louder than anything." I replied. I took a deep breath, "What are you? Please, just tell me, I won't breath a word about it, I swear."

She locked her gaze with mine, and sighed, "Undead."

"Un…Undead?" Was this some Joke?

She was silent, her amber eyes pained, like she was trying to decide what to do, but I wasn't sure. Then she shook her head "Mike, I can't lie to you anymore, it's just to much."

I searched her eyes, but all I saw was pure, unveiled truth. Suddenly it all made sense, what she was, what she felt, as well as how I felt. So I, Mike Newton, was face to face with a real life Vampire, and I knew with a great fear, that I loved her. And that she felt the same way about me.

**Okay! Chapter three and the big secret have now been unveiled! Now if you will… please comment! It's appreciated greatly! Now I will try my hardest to get chap. 4 up tomorrow, and I promise that it will be longer! Or at least I hope.**

**-Midnight walker**


	4. Confessions of a teenage vampire

Ello

Ello! I'm back! I told you I would post today! Anyway, I might not be able to post as often from now on because I'm going to be working on a crossover that I've had on my mind for quite awhile. Don't worry! I'm still working on MTLL; it's just that it might not be as up-to-date as it could be.

**Now that's taken care of, on with the disclaimers!**

**Me: NOOOOOOO!! I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! WAAAAAHHHH!! Breaks down Sobbing**

**Dani: But you still own me! Doesn't that make you feel better?**

**Me: Yeah… I guess… A little atom-sized bit.**

**Dani: HEY! What was that for?!**

**Me: I'm sorry, but you're no Edward Cullen.**

**Dani: True, but who could beat that? He's awesome!**

**Mike: DANI! Do you love another man more than me?!**

**Dani: He's my brother, Mike. Only a deranged pervert would like their sibling.**

**Mike: Like Cedric?**

**Dani: SHHHHHHH! Nobody's supposed to know about him yet!**

**Me: I'm going to leave now.**

**Dani&Mike: Okay! See ya!**

**Me: Oi. Why do I continue with this? Goes on to write**

I don't know what held me together those next few moments. The fish line strands that held my mind suspended from snapping, and letting instinct take over and having me run away screaming bloody murder. Whatever it was, it also hoisted me up to see the bigger picture, helping me to remotely understand what had just been said. Like someone was guiding me through this and help me cope, someone I couldn't see. But looking back now, that someone had made all the difference between my total rejection, and complete acceptance.

But that still didn't help stop my head from spinning off my body. I might have not slipped into a state of total hysteria, but I still was close to losing it.

"I think… I need to sit down." Then my knees buckled and fell to the ground, only just catching myself before I did a total face plant.

"Mike!" Dani was immediately next to me, but she didn't touch me. Multiple times she started to reach for me, only to stop halfway and tuck her hands back into her lap.

I positioned myself in a sitting position, and sucked in a shaky breath, "I'm…fine…I just…need to…think."

"I'm sorry. I should have never said anything." She looked away, as if that helped me out any further.

"Don't say that, I'm glad you told me, I'd rather know than be left in the dark." I closed my eyes and tied to concentrate. "So, you're a…vampire, right?" how's that for a conversation starter?

She sighed, "Yes."

"I still don't think you're a monster." I re-opened my eyes, "You saved my life, and I don't care what could have happened, your still the reason why I'm alive. Nothing can change that."

She turned to me and our eyes met, and instead of the expected cold look, what I saw was utter disbelief. "Mike, are you sure you didn't hit your head on your way down here?"

I smiled "No, but if my thinking disturbs you, you can always leave."

She bit her lip, and then did the last thing I expected her to do.

She returned my smile.

"You know, it's that type of thinking that makes this world interesting." She chuckled "You never know when even the most normal looking person could wind up a total loony."

"Are you calling me crazy?"

"Seeing that you're not screaming and heading for the hills, yes, yes I would call you a loony." She got up. "But, seeing as I share similar thought patterns, I guess it's acceptable."

I stood up along with her, and saw a problem that was previously overlooked. "Umm…how are we going to get back up to the bus? I not quite sure that I want to be left here."

"Follow me." she started walking away, and I had no choice but to follow her. We trekked in silence, giving me some time to think. First of all, Dani was a vampire. The sound of that phrase made me cringe, but I knew someday I had to get over it. She was what she was; it wasn't like she could help it. And as far as I've seen, I pretty sure that she's not going to suddenly rip my throat out and drain all of my blood. But then that brought another question to my mind.

"Hey, um, Dani? Can I ask you something?"

"What?" She turned her head back to look at me, she seemed open, but there was a slight hint of caution in her features.

"It's about your diet…whether or not…you know…" I hope this doesn't go the wrong way.

"Ah, I knew eventually you would bring that up." she paused. "Yes, yes I do live off of blood."

My stomach knotted up at the simple delivery of the sentence, like she wanted this conversation to blow over as fast as she could force it to. But unlike her, that was the opposite of what I wanted.

"But you don't hunt humans, do you?" I braced myself for the answer, prying that my hopes of some non-murderous vampire where not in vain.

"No, I don't. I used to, but that was long ago." She had stopped now, looking off into space. I suddenly wondered what was going through her head just now.

"Then what do you…?"

"Animals. I hunt animals instead." She looked over to me, gauging my reaction.

I tried to keep my thoughts hidden, "But it's hard to go against the grain like that? Isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. It's like a diet, no matter how strict you are with yourself, and no matter how many opportunities there are to take the sweets instead of the caret sticks, in the end it's all the same." Her eyes saddened "You will always long for them, and sometimes, when the pressure is too strong, you'll find yourself cheating."

A long silence followed as her words echoed in the thickening brush. I stood there, trying to take this all in.

Then finally, she broke it. "How about we keep going, they are probably wondering where we are."

"Okay, let's go." And we continued on, until by some miracle, we had made it back to the trail. Normally you would expect it to take twice as long to even to get your bearings of where you are, let alone try to attempt to get back. That must be one of the things that come with being a vampire, insane hiking skills.

It turned out that we did stir up a little panic during our little adventure, but not enough for people to go out looking for us yet. So after a rather verbose rant from Mrs. Crabapple about how we where nearly adults and how we should be able to not get ourselves lost so easily, we where sent to the bus.

Dani joined Alice, who was currently bouncing up and down on her seat. I wonder what has got her so excited? Unless somehow she saw the future and was weirdly happy about Dani telling me the big secret, I didn't have a clue. I re took my seat next to Jessica, who pelted me with questions about where I was and why did I come back with a Cullen. I just simply told her that I had gotten lost, and that she had found me and kindly led me back, and nothing big had happened between us. There was no way I was going to defy Dani's trust now, She had confided in me the biggest secret a person could have, I would stand to my word, even if means lying in order to do it.

But by the time we had mad it back to Forks high, I was absolutely sure of one thing. I had fully accepted Dani for what she was, and I didn't care what she was, just as long as she was Dani, I was completely fine.

Okay! Chapter four is now done! Now that your done reading…START REVIEWING! I REALLY enjoy reading them, and I send my infinite thanks to those of you that have, not one word has been taken for granted. Thank you for your support!

** -MidnightWalker**


	5. The Bet

A/N: ELLO

A/N: ELLO! I know in the last post I said that my work on MTLL would slow down a bit because I'm working on another fan fiction. That is the same one as the one mentioned in my little section in the bio. _(Edit: Hey! I've posted this mystery fan fiction at last! If you want to see it, go to the bio and go to "Of what became of Fire and Ice.")_ So, no, I'm not working on a hundred and one fan fictions at the same time. So with that all cleared up, on with disclaimers!

**Me singing in an ear-splitting off-pitch tone: SCHOOOOOOOOOOL'S OUT! FOR, SUMMER!**

**Dani with hands over ears: This is an outrage.**

**Mike: What is?**

**Dani: That she can go around singing about getting out of school when we're still stuck in it because she's too lazy to write us out of it.**

**Mike: But she doesn't even own us! Technically we don't even have to listen to her!**

**Dani: Mike, you're forgetting, she may not own **_**you,**_** but I'm still stuck with her.**

**Mike: aw, it's all right; I'll stay with you.**

**Dani: Thanks. (Dani and Mike continue off talking, hugging, and other mushy couple stuff.)**

I have always been one of those fiction people, when given a choice between history channel and Sci-Fi; I choose the latter without a second thought. I loved the unnatural; I found it fascinating, even though I always treated fiction as just that, fiction. Not real, just fantasies of the human mind. And now, I was finding out that some of that stuff is more than just Hollywood smoke and mirrors.

Yesterday, I fell upon the biggest secret in the entire world, literally. As if having a near-death experience wasn't enough, I found out that one of my classmates, Dani Cullen, was a vampire. And possibly, that the rest of her "Family" could be too.

I had the entire night to sit on that. Why sleep when you have to figure out whether your crush is insane or not? My mind kept rejecting the idea, I could practically hear the voice of rationality sitting on my shoulder going, "Psh, vampire? Crazy talk!"

But there was the undeniable evidence. The extreme strength, the strangeness that set her apart from everyone else, not to mention her wicked tracking skills that saved my hide from Mrs. Crabapple's wrath for being too late…

Yes, there was defiantly truth in this, and that was only confirmed when I pulled up in the Forks Community school student parking lot.

I had just cut off the engine when she appeared seemingly out of thin air at the side of my car. I rolled down my window to greet her.

"Hey."

"Hey to you too." She crossed her arms and leaned against the car parked next to my suburban. "Do you have any books that I can pick up for 'ya? Or is it that you need to be saved like a damsel in distress again?"

"I resent that." I smiled; she looked at ease, a huge contrast from her normal silence- thus a huge relief to the both of us. "That cliff was a death trap, no human could stand on it and not plummet to their death."

She grinned, "You're right, it _would_ take an inhuman force to survive that thing."

"Aha!" I punched the air, unable to hide my inner triumph.

"Aha what?" she gave me a puzzled look, she may not be human, but she still can't read my mind.

"Aha that I wasn't dreaming about yesterday." I laughed nervously, "To tell you the truth, I didn't have a lot going for what you said back there."

"Oh, that." She looked away, contemplating something, but before I could say anything, she re-directed her attention to me, "Come on, we better be heading to class."

I got out and started walking towards my first class along side her. But we didn't even reach the sidewalk before we where ambushed, by none other than Alice Cullen.

"You two look so cute together!" she squealed. Dani groaned, she apparently didn't like the attention.

She sighed "Alice, can you give me a break just this once?"

"Nope." Alice beamed, and Dani grimaced. As I stood back and watched them, I noticed something. They looked so alike physically; both had short, cropped black hair, golden eyes, pale, impossibly beautiful… the only outer difference I could see was that Dani wasn't as small and petite as Alice. Though I could clearly see major differences in their personalities right then and there. It's so strange how even when people who look alike, yet they are still two completely different people.

"Hey, earth to Mike! Back me up here!" I was snapped out of my ponderings when the two bickering sisters finally acknowledged my existence.

"Dani, give him a break, he was thinking about you. That must count as something." I almost jumped at the voice that suddenly came from nowhere, causing Alice to giggle behind me. I slowly turned around to see that Edward and Bella had snuck up behind me while my head was drifting in the clouds.

"Edward, don't you have something better to do than butt your head into someone else's business?" Dani crossed her arms as she looked past me to glare at him.

"This is my business, Bella wanted to come over to talk to Mike, and I couldn't help but hear him. He's a rather loud thinker." Edward smiled in victory as he saw Dani bite her lip, I could already see how they got along, the old siblings out for each other's necks scenario, only now remixed, vampire style.

But Dani kept her stature, "You may have won this battle, Ed, but you have yet to win the war."

"I won the war the moment you set foot into our house, and don't call me Ed, it's disrespectful." Wow, Edward was better at comebacks than I thought.

"Disrespectful? Who's the oldest here, you?" Dani shot back expertly.

"You may be older in physical years than I am, but when it comes to maturity, I'm an eternity ahead." He turned to Bella, "Bella, wasn't there something you wanted to say to Mike?"

"Oh, um, yes, there was." Bella blushed, "But I was hoping that we could talk alone."

"Well then, Alice, Dani, we'd better be off." Edward beckoned to Alice and Dani. Alice happily skipped over but Dani was more reluctant. She looked to me, then to Bella, Edward, then back to me again before sighing and swiftly followed Edward out, watching me until they disappeared into a nearby classroom.

Bella turned to me and gave me a nervous smile. "No doubt they are still listening in on us, but there's no helping that, is there?"

"Um...Bella? What did you want to say to me?" Why is it that she's suddenly interested in even talking to me? Ever since she started to hang out with the Cullens, she rarely talked to anyone. But who knows, maybe once you hang around with the outsiders, you start to pick up their isolating habits also.

"I just wanted to tell you that, out of everybody to learn the Cullen secret, I'm glad it's you." Bella's face flushed as she said this, she obviously didn't like being put in the spot light.

"Well, uh… thank you?" I didn't know what to say, she was actually _welcoming_ me, and this was the last thing I expected.

"There was also something else…" She trailed off.

"Yeah?" I internally kicked myself for sounding so eager, I must so like Jessica.

"I wanted to apologize to you."

"What?" Apologize?

"Yes, I was… jealous. I know, it's silly, there was nothing to be jealous about I…"

" I understand, you couldn't help it. Someone else was invading your territory, and it was easily allowed, making you feel a little miffed." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, "Boy, I sound like some sort of shrink, don't I?"

"No, Mike, that's exactly what was going on, how did you do that?"

I averted my vision, "I didn't. Normally I have the insight of a tree stump, this was just a lucky shot, I guess."

She examined me for a moment before going on. "She really likes you, you know."

"Huh?" Now it was my turn to blush.

"Dani, ever since she first met you, you where the only thing on her mind." She shook her head, "It was bizarre. The Cullen house was actually _peaceful_ for the time, no a single prank or major fight for three whole weeks. Actually, Emmett, Edward, Alice and Jasper where all making bets to see how long it would last. Naturally, Alice won."

This was all news to me. It was hard to grasp, all those days of silence and dark eyes… was it possible that she had been watching me the same way I had to her? Did she really care for me the same way that I cared for her?

For once, I pulled myself out of my maze of a mind, "Shouldn't we be heading to class? I hear that Mrs. C will be giving one of her "Pop quizzes"."

"Again? I don't see what's surprising with those when you always know when they're coming. But you're probably right." So with that, I followed Bella to trig, and she joined Edward at their usual seats. I quietly made it to my seat with Jessica, who had apparently made it her new life mission to try to scrape up as much gossip from me as possible. And she successfully bombarded with questions throughout the class period, with the help of a lazy sub that turned trig into some sort of goof-off study hall.

"So…" Jessica leaned in closer over her notebook, "What's going on between you and Cullen?"

I sighed, "Nothing Jess."

"Liar!" She jabbed an accusing finger in my chest. Hard. "I saw you talking to her in the parking lot, and call me crazy, the two of you seemed to be attracted to each other."

"Jess, why should you care if I'm talking with her, it's no big deal." I pushed her pointing hand away, "Either way, it's none of your business."

Her eyes grew wide from a mixture of shock and anger. "None of my business?! There's another girl out there who is after my man! competition! And as if that's not enough, you're falling head over heels for her!"

"Your man? Jessica, I broke up with you almost a year ago. Get it through your head! I can't have you trotting behind me and never letting go along the way just because we went out only a handful of nights!" I was losing it, letting the pent-up anger flow freely now, "I think it would be good if you gave me a little space and not be in my face all of the time! I _like_ her, and just because you can't handle it means that I'm not allowed? Grow up, Jessica. Just grow up."

As if on cue, the bell rang, and I stormed out of the room. I didn't regret a single word I said back there, She had it coming.

But my blind fury wore off as the day continued, and by lunch, I was actually starting to wish that I hadn't blown up on her like that. I had just gotten my food when I noticed Dani waving me down from one of the far corners of the Cafeteria. I immediately headed that direction, even though I was a little confused. This wasn't normal Dani behavior. The norm was, whenever someone other than Edward, Bella, and Alice came within thirty feet, they would receive only the blackest of glares, it didn't take long for the guys to figure out she was clearly off limits.

But to suddenly switch from that to jumping up and down trying to get someone's, a guy, attention, earned her some questionable stares. Half of the student body must have been wondering if she had recently experienced some brain trauma to send her into this sudden outburst of energy.

"What took you so long?" Dani questioned with a chuckle as I took my place next to her, "Lunch started _ages_ ago!"

"Well sorry, some of us have to actually _worry _about school work, grades, and my future." I replied with an answering smile.

"See Bella, you should be like Mike, and be _preparing_ for your future." Edward said playfully, but I could also sense a serious, almost pleading edge to his voice.

"I am, by being near you. Believe it or not, the deals still on. Even if it means getting… _married_." Bella grimaced at the last word like she was talking about her funeral instead of her wedding day. It made me wonder what Edward could be promising to get her to do something that she truly didn't care for.

Edward turned to me, "You don't want to know."

I felt my eyes widen, did he just answer my thoughts?

"Edward, now look what you've done, he's scared out of his mind!" Dani snapped at Edward before turning to me, "Don't worry Mike, Edward only hears voices in his head, that's why he's so… you know."

"You make it sound like I belong in an asylum." Edward raised one eyebrow, scrutinizing Dani.

"Maybe you do." Dani shot back with a smirk.

"Ugh, I think my head's going to explode." And I wasn't kidding either.

"Edward can read minds Mike, sometimes, when people are "changed" they gain powers like that. For example, Alice can see the future, but only when a decision is made." Thank goodness for Bella, she seemed to be the only one explaining things here.

"That's why Edward answered my thoughts, because he could hear them?" wow… I felt so exposed, but I couldn't help to go on. "And Alice… she can see the future?"

"Only when someone makes a decision." Bella seemed so used to all of this, I wondered if I could ever talk about such strange things without restraint someday too.

"Speaking of my seeing of the future…" Alice held out her hand to Edward, "Pay up, I won the bet."

Edward sighed, but he pulled out his wallet and started handing her bills. It normally wouldn't have been a big deal if I hadn't saw that it was been Ben Franklin's face on them instead of Washington's. While I goggled at the immense amount of money being dealt, Dani seemed concerned about other matters.

"Bet? When did you guys make a bet?" she eyed Alice suspiciously as she watched the pile of green grow taller.

"Oh, about three weeks ago." Alice waved it off like it was nothing, when Edward's now empty billfold was being placed back into his pocket.

"Why didn't I hear about this? I would of thrown in my share also." Dani's brow furrowed at the sparse information her brother and sister was giving her.

"You wouldn't have been able to do that." Edward replied curtly.

"Why not?"

"Because the bet was about you." Alice laughed, probably already seeing the expression that was about to explode across Dani's features.

I had to admit, it was quite the special. Dani shot up so fast that her lunch trey almost went airborne. Her face was incredulous as she glared down upon the two gambling kinfolk.

"What in the world would you bet on me about!" Her voice was shocked, but not loud. But heads still turned.

"Will you calm down? We don't need to make a scene." Edward hissed. Dani lowered herself, but she wasn't done yet.

"Well?" She snapped.

"It was about how long it would take for you to finally get the guts to start talking to Mike again. I was going on never but you can see how wrong I was." Edward leaned back into his seat, and started to play with Bella's hair.

The storm was over, Dani's expression immediately at the sound of my name. She looked over to me, scanning over my face, and an impish grin emerged upon her lips. "What was the wager?"

"Whatever you had in your wallet." Alice chirped, "I still have to collect from Emmett and Jasper, though."

Everyone's eyes where all on me for a moment, three golden pairs and one brown. At first I was uncomfortable, but then when I met Dani's molten gaze, all of that melted away. And couldn't have asked for more.

**Okay! Next chapter will be coming up sooner, I promise!**

** -MidnightWalker**


	6. You do WHAT to cars?

A/N: Hi

**A/N: Hi! I for got to apologize for the huge space of time between chapters 4 and 5. I'm just crazy busy lately and have barely any time to write. But this time I'm going to warn you guys ahead of time. This next week I'm going to be out and about, meaning that I will be miles away from any useable computer. So if I don't post anything for a solid week, now you know why. And also, I've been putting around the Twilight section on Fan Fiction and… I feel unwanted. I'm seeing review counts that are breaking into the hundreds, and you've got to admit, that sort of dwarfs my lone five. So please, Please, PLEASE! REVIEW! I don't care what chapter your reviewing on, just review! I know, I'm being a pain in the rear, but I would ****really**** appreciate some more reviews! Now On with the Disclaimers!**

**Dani: Ahhhhhhhhhhh!**

**Me: What?**

**Dani: The Midwest is being flooded! And I hear that the flooding might move to the east coast! That means double the rain we normally get in Forks!**

**Me: Dani, I made you so that you **_**liked**_** water. I could probably just make the other characters adapt too.**

**Dani: No you can't! You don't own them!**

**Me: Don't remind me.**

I had never really met anyone from the Cullen family before Dani, didn't really care to meet them before the recent happenings either. They where just the kids that stood on the sidelines, untouchables by their own choosing, no one really spoke to them other than Bella. But Dani felt that that was a thing that needed changing.

It was the end of the day, and I was walking to my car with Dani. When I reached for the Driver's door, she slipped in front of me, blocking my way.

I was about to speak when she interrupted me, "Mike, I think it's about time you met my family."

"What?" I had been around Dani long enough to figure out that she was notorious for her bolts from the blue, but this was different, she was actually serious.

"To meet my family, I think it would be good to meet the folks. To know what your getting into, that is." She added with a smile at the end.

"Now? Why can't we wait until later?" My mind flickered to the gigantic pile of graduation invites that needed to be delivered by the end of the week. Not that I wanted to go back to that.

"Why not! Bella is coming over also, better get you in now rather than later!" Her voice was enthusiastic, but I could tell that she was hiding something.

I wasn't about to buy it, "Dani, out with it. What is the _real_ reason behind all of this?"

She sighed, "Can't you just come over? I promise I will tell you, but you'll probably find out when you get there anyway."

I thought about it, there was really no reason not to go, my parents have been closing the shop early in honor of graduation, and refused to let me help out. Something about how I should be focusing on the upcoming event rather than a family business. Other than the invitations and studying, I had nothing to do. "Fine, I'll go. Just promise that you'll help me address invites in return for me."

"Deal. Now come on, we're burning daylight!" She sped over to the passenger's seat at a speed that matched a human sprint, and was already leaning over the radio by the time I had put the key in the ignition.

We where halfway through town, listening to an oldies station of Dani's choice, when I realized something. "Ummm… Dani? Where do you live exactly?"

She turned to me, "Just drive strait ahead until you get to the outskirts of town, and I'll tell you where to turn from there."

So with Dani acting backseat driver, we managed to make it halfway there. That's when my car gave out.

"Come on!" I kept turning my key in the futile effort to revive my car, but it showed no signs of life.

"I don't think we'll be able to get this car moving that way, we'll probably have to look under the hood" Dani murmured, then she opened the door and jumped out of the suburban.

"Hey!" I quickly followed her to the front, "Wait a second!"

But just as I got to her side, she yanked the hood up releasing billowing clouds of smoke. I yanked my sweatshirt over my mouth and started to cough, but she just stood there fanning away the solid wall of gas, unaffected by it.

"Wow," she surveyed my car's innards as the smoke cleared, "It's worse than I thought."

"What's worse?" I cautiously leaned over with her, trying to make sense of all to tubes and wires.

"I don't really know, I hot wire cars, not fix them." She mused as her eyes scanned back over the parts.

"You what?!" Since when did she become a criminal?

"I hot wire them. Once I got my hands on this reeeeally nice Porsche and-

"But that's illegal! Why would you do it anyway? Your family has a lot of nice cars from what I hear!"

"Don't fall under the impression that I've always been a Cullen, Mike. I don't do it any more, the reason why I did in the first place because it was a part of my job over in Italy." She said it so plainly, like it was just some light, passing topic. Again her words reeked of something hidden.

"Italy? What was your job in Italy?" It sounded like an innocent question to me, but obviously I missed something. She froze up, staring down into the twisting pipes and wires, and I saw her fists clench as the silence prolonged.

It was too much for me to see her like this, cold and stony like she was those weeks before, "Never mind then, if you don't want to tell me then, I guess I'll just have to deal with it."

We where silent for a few moments, and then Dani reached up and closed the hood of the car and turned to me. "It looks like we'll have to run the rest of the way."

The wording confused me, "Run? You mean walk, right?"

She gazed down the road, "Na, that's too slow, here, get on my back."

I eyed her nervously, "You're kidding, right?"

She grinned, "What, you think you can speed your way over on your own?"

"Fine, but I'm heavier than I look. Are you sure you can handle it?"

She laughed, "Is the sky blue? Come on, we better hurry up, we don't want to keep everybody waiting, now do we?"

I sighed and she picked me up effortlessly. And in within the space of a heartbeat, we where off. The scenery around me blurred into a brown and green wall, going faster than any car I've been in, but it ended as quickly as it started. In no time she was trotting up the steps of one of the most beautiful homes I have ever seen. It was a three-story off-white house that had a porch that wrapped around the entire building. It was the last thing you would expect from a family of vampires.

She set me down to my feet and smiled, "So, how did you like it, the run I mean."

"I…I… it was amazing!" I never felt like this before, my heart was thumping, my blood was racing… the excitement was overwhelming.

"I love it too…" she trailed off, her eye sparkling. "Are you ready to see the unknown horrors of the Cullen household?"

"Yeah, I'm ready." The both of us turned for the door, and we entered through the doors into the most mysterious building in the state.

Okay! Mike is about to see why the Cullens don't have houseguests often! But he might just find him a little in over his head, discovering that the Cullen's problems don't end with keeping a little dietary secret. He might also find out a little more about the shady past of his favorite Cullen, Dani. But before you go on with your lives… REVIEW!

** Thanks a Million,**

** MidnightWalker**


	7. Meet the Munsters

**A/N: Ello! You gave your say on what you think Dani's power was and... I can't decide. I have narrowed it down to four, and so I decided, "Why not have you all vote? Isn't that what polls are for?" Go to my bio and click on the poll entitled "Dani's power- what should it be?" go in, and vote your hearts out. Naturally, the one with the most votes (or vote) witll win. I split this chapter in half so I have more time to decide what her power is. Pre-warning: this chapter will be abnormally short due to this. You have been warned! ****So, on with the disclaimers!**

I can say now, the Cullens are not what you would expect out of a family of vampires. Instead of the whole gothic sleeping-in-coffins and human-bodies-strewn-all-over type stuff, the inside of the house was _bright_. Not just bright-bright, I'm talking O-M-G-I-think-I-am-going-blind bright. They even had an entire wall that was completely devoted to housing the enormous amount of windows. The space was light and airy, not dark or claustrophobic in the least, with an array of whites spread from the paint that covered the ceiling down to the plush ivory carpeting that was spread wherever there wasn't polished hard wood flooring. As I said, not what I expected in the least.

The Cullen family was spread across the huge front room; standing to greet us was Dr. Cullen and whom I guessed to be his wife, Esme. Sprawled over the couch I recognized the bear-like Emmett along with Jasper who was sitting across from him with one arm around Alice. Edward and Bella where slowly making their way down the stairs, whispering to each other with the elder Cullen sister, Rosalie, trailing behind them. Everyone looked to us as when we entered, and I looked over to Dani, who grinned back encouragingly.

"Mike, meet the family." She said in mock grandness as she motioned to the rest of the room.

Dr. Cullen and his wife where the first to step up, "Mike, it's a pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand, and I took it, flinching when I realized how cold it was.

"Pleasure to meet you too, Dr. Cullen." I responded politely.

"Please, call me Carlisle." He smiled warmly, and Esme approached behind him, looking like a mother excited to see her adopted child for the first time.

"Mike, It's wonderful to have you to be with us, with Dani." Esme gave me a light hug, and retook her place next to Carlisle.

The next one to jump into the welcome wagon was Emmett.

Kind of.

"Hey, the Joker's back!" Emmett hopped off the couch and jogged over to Dani, pulling her away from me and giving her the noogie of a lifetime.

She swatted away his grinding fist, "you keep that up and the joker's never going to come back. This is about Mike, not me."

Emmett obediently turned to face me, smiling. "Sorry about that, name's Emmett, currently the big brother of this girl your that belongs in a circus rather than here."

"This is a circus with you here." Dani chuckled.

Emmett replied with a booming laugh that shook the ground, "You're probably right, but you contribute too."

"True that, true that." She looked over her shoulder over to Bella and Edward, "You've already met these two, and I don't think it's necessary for introduction."

Edward nodded to me in acknowledgement and Bella smiled, and they headed over to the couches.

"And over there next to Alice is Jasper, and the girl who just decided to flake was Rosalie." Dani sighed and grabbed my hand; "I guess we'll let her have her peace… for now."

She started towing me towards the staircase, and I took one last scan of the room. The rest of the Cullens, along with Bella, had gathered over next to the couches. They seemed to be discussing something, but I couldn't catch the air of the situation. We marched-more like _she_ marched and _I_ stumbled behind-all the way to the third floor, where she pointed out rooms all the way down the hallway.

"This is Carlisle's study, Edward's room ugh, and finally here's my room." We stopped halfway down the hall in front of a polished oak doorway that matched the rest, except for the fact that unlike the rest, it looked like it suffered more wear and tear than the rest. She reached out and gave the door a light push, and it swung open

Her room was something else. Like the other rooms, it was painted with various shades of white, but it was what was on _top_ of the paint that was what made it different. Splashes of blues and greens and reds, any color under the rainbow was spattered and splashed across everything. Tarps hung from the walls, sporting even more paint, and sketches and paintings lined the walls, even the carpet was stained by what looked to be gallons of color. They're where only four pieces of furniture in the room, an easel, stool, paint rack, and a desk draped with papers, pencils, and various filming equipment. I followed Dani to the center of the room as she took her place perched on top of the stool.

"So, what do 'ya think?" she held out her arms, motioning around the room.

I took a second look around and smiled, "Well… it certainly fits your personality."

She looked around with me for a moment, "It's smaller than the rest of the rooms, and this used to be the guest room, though I don't see why there would be a guest when the Adams family are in."

My smile widened, she seemed to take the dark secret of her family so lightly, it seemed like she was a totally different person that I had talked to that day on the Cliffside. Back there she seemed so burdened by it, but now, that didn't seem to be the case.

As I thought this through, I remembered something.

"Hey Dani? You said that you would tell me something before, you know, at the car." I locked my eyes with hers, hoping that she wouldn't dance around my questions this time.

Thankfully, she didn't.

She looked over to me with burdened eyes, "Mike, do you really want to know?"

**OOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

**Okay, What will Dani's secret be? If you want to find out…REVIEW/VOTE! And also, do you like the cool "O" divider I made above? It's a little trick I learned from a friend! So no more confusing A/N's for the actual story! Yay!**

**-MidnightWalker**


	8. Getting a grip on powers

A/N: HOWDY

**A/N: HOWDY! Sorry, dis will be a short chapter. I'm at the library because my computer just got fried. That means less updates people! And guess what?! Yesterday we found out that prince Caspian won't be showing in our theaters for another two weeks! It's insane! And to make it worse, right when I found out we won't be going, my friend just randomly mentioned that there was an extended Twilight trailer before it. (She had already seen prince Caspian, and was going for round 2) yes, an EXTENDED TWILIGHT TRAILER. As even twice as bummed, I worked on house work the ENTIRE day. It sucked. So today, I'm seeing the Incredible Hulk with another friend. So, now lets see what Dani's power is, shall we? On with disclaimers!**

**Dani: Yay! I get my power! –Starts to jump up and down-**

**Me: Yup you do, you ready to see what it is?**

**Dani: YES!**

**Me: Okay, wait, where's Mike? Shouldn't he be here to hear the news?**

**Dani: Oh, he left because you didn't own him and is at the Twilight character "We're not owned by MidnightWalker so let's party" party.**

**Me: what I wouldn't give…**

**OOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

I gazed into her eyes, "Yes, I do want to know."

She sighed and looked around the room and then pointed at a mug full of pencils, "Hey, will you get me that? I think it will be easier if I drew it out while explaining it."

"Why can't you get it? You have two legs that aren't broken; you're perfectly able to get them yourself." I crossed my arms; she can be so unreasonable sometimes.

"Come on Mike, I won't explain this to 'ya if you don't." She caught my eyes, drat. She had me.

I groaned and walked the five feet she was too lazy to cross and grabbed the mug. Woops, did I say grab the _mug_, what I meant to say was grab _thin air._

I blinked twice, and stared down at the spot where the mug just was, and turned around to see Dani holding it in her hand, grinning.

"How did you-

"Simple, I used my mind." She replied tapping the side of her head with a finger.

It took me a while to process that. "You mean, like telekinesis?"

"Exactly like telekinesis." Her smile widened, "It comes in handy when someone is playing music real loud or being a spaz in another room, this way I can just chuck stuff at them without them seeing."

"So you can move things in other rooms, so you don't have to see them?" She shook her head an answered.

"No, I have to be able to see the object, but just to get a grip on it, if I have a good mental picture of the building, I can easily make it go to another room." She picked up a rubber band ball from off the floor, "For example, if I want this to, oh, I don't know, hit good old Ed in the head, I just have too…"

I watched in awe as the ball started to rise from her hand, and the in a blink of an eye, rocketed out of the room. There was a moment of silence, and then clicked her tongue, "Dang, Ed caught it. Must have heard me talking."

"Yes I did, and you missed, you almost hit Bella." Edward was at the door, tossing the ball with one hand while glaring at Dani.

"I did not! It's your own fault that you moved your head!" The ball zoomed out of Edward's hands and into hers, "Now go away, I'm talking to Mike."

Edward gave her one last look and left without another word, and Dani looked back to me. "Sorry about that, he gets a little over protective when Bella's around, Ironic how that's the time when he annoys me most."

I turned back to face her and smiled, "Something tells me that it isn't _him_ annoying _you_."

She smirked, "Yeah, you're probably right. I do give him a hard time-

But she wasn't able to finish. She toped mid-sentence and her playful smirk vanished, before I could ask what was wrong, she grabbed my hand and before I knew it, we where rushing down the stairs as fast as my legs could take me. When we got to the main room, the first thing I saw was that like before, everyone was gathered here. Unlike before, they all had serious or worried expressions on their faces. I looked over to Dani, and before I could ask, she answered.

"Alice had a vision."

With her suddenly serious tone, I knew the fun and games where over.

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**Okay! Now you see who one with five out of the votes! Thank you garnettotopaz for mentioning this power! Lets all clap! –clapclapclapclapcalp- I'll try to see how soon I can get the next chapter up, but be patient, it won't be immediate, and that's for sure.**

**Thanks all! -MidnightWalker **


	9. The Volturi, and dealing with family

A/N: Hi

**A/N: Hi! Here's another installment of MTLL! So… I don't have time to do a sketch so I'll give it to 'ya strait. I do not own Twilight, or any of its characters. There. Happy? I'll be happy if you REVIEW! BWAHA!**

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I spun around to face Alice, wanting to know what snagged the entire family to a stand still. It scared me, seeing Alice like that, in the few days I have known her, I had grown very fond of her. But that usual glimmer of excitement was gone, and for the first time in my life I thought she looked worried.

"What did she see?" Dani was tense, and I felt her hand freeze in mine.

"I'm…not exactly sure…It's just a bunch of bits and pieces." Alice's met with every face in the room, "But there's one thing that _is_ clear. It's the Volturi, and their heading this way. I'm not sure how close they are, but I think we all know what their motivation is."

The room was silent, as everyone turned to Bella, who was steadily driving herself into Edward's side, eye wide with fear. I took a second look around the room, confused.

"The Volturi? Who's the Volturi?" I didn't get it. Who could be so scary that they can scare a family of vampires? It just didn't make sense.

Esme gave me a concerned look, and then addressed Dani, "Haven't you told him?"

"I was getting around to that…" She squeezed my hand and looked into my eyes, "I guess now would be the best time for me to tell you."

She led me to one of the white-leather sofas and we sat down next to each other. The rest of the Cullens left the room, probably continuing Alice's interrogation in another room. I positioned myself so I was facing her, and she did the same, along with grabbing my other hand.

She was the first to speak. "So, Mike… its review time. What have you learned about vampires so far?"

"I thought you where going to tell me about the "Volturi", not a class in vampire 101." I prodded, I wasn't going to take any funny business, and if there is something so powerful out there that it can strike fear in the hearts of the normally collected Cullens.

"I'm going to get to that. Just answer this one question, what do you know about my kind?" She urged me on, waiting for my answer.

"Um… I don't know… uh…" I searched for something to say, "Well, first, vampires are stronger, faster, and basically all around superior to humans…and sometimes, also, they can get extra powers, like you or Alice-"

"Stop right there, I've heard enough" She let go of my hand and held up a silencing finger, "Now, you just said that there are some vampires with special abilities, right?"

Where was she going with this? "Yeah…"

"That's basically what the Volturi is. A group of some of the most powerful vampires in the world, and next to that, they play a very important role in the world underlying yours. They are the ones that keep order, to make sure the rules are being followed, keep an iron hand, you get the picture."

"Rules? There are rules you have to follow?" Wow, it was hard imagining a vampire book of laws… it was just too bizarre.

"It's really a whole lot of nothing, pretty much all of them are just common sense. Like, don't go out in the sun; don't reveal your secret… simple stuff like that. But, just like in the human world, there is always a rebel or a lunatic floating around somewhere."

I was catching on, "So… they're like law enforcement for the undead?"

"Kind of."

"But what does that have to do with you guys? It's not like your breaking any major rules, is it?" Once again, one of those seemingly harmless questions, wreaking havoc in the town of Forks Washington.

"Well… that's not exactly the case…" she bit her lip nervously as she searched for an answer, "We kind of broke a big rule a while back, and actually we just broke it a couple days ago, too."

"What? What is this rule?" Twice? This must be a pretty tough rule to follow in order to get it wrong twice in a row.

She gave me a little smile, "Ironically it's the most obvious, and it has to do with keeping a secret."

Then it clicked. She was talking about Bella and I knowing their secret. I suddenly understood how much was being risked for Bella and I, and I suddenly felt guilty like it was my fault that the Cullens would have to face the music for something I set off. But that was quickly replaced by thankfulness, that they would do this for my Bella and I's sake, they must truly care for us. I was touched, but afraid for what would happen next.

"Mike, are you alright?"

Dani leaned in closer to catch my eyes, and I gave her a weary smile. "I was just thinking, that's all."

Dani was silent for a moment, and returned my smile, "Don't worry Mike, it's not as bad as it sounds, they're just probably…dropping by, just to check on us."

I laughed humorlessly, "Like that's the case, they don't sound like the type to give second chances."

"Your right." Dani agreed, and looked off into space, like there was something more on her mind than just the impending arrival of the Volturi on her mind.

"Hey, what's on your mind?" I squeezed her marble hand, not very effective, but it's the thought that counts, right?

"Nothing, just wondering if the wedding's still on." She answered thoughtfully, and I realized, I had almost forgotten about Edward and Bella's wedding.

"Oh yeah, when is that again?" I searched my mind for a date, but came up empty.

"July thirty-first, are you attending?" She asked lightly, apparently glad to be talking about a less serious topic than the probability of her being thrown into vampire juvy, or whatever happened when you broke the rules.

"Only if you are." I replied expectantly.

She grinned, "It's a date then."

We sat there for a moment, our hands still entwined in each others and she laid her head on my shoulder, closing her eyes, her breathing steady, controlled. I watched her for a moment, studying each of her features carefully. Her messy black chin-length hair, contrasting with her perfectly carved alabaster face. I freed one of my hands and brushed back a stray hair that was hanging in her face, and her eyes opened halfway and she looked to me. Her eyes where darker than usual, thirsty. It must be hard for her to do this, just a simple task in normal terms, but truly a challenge for her in this condition.

She reached up with her free hand and brushed my cheek with her fingers, smiling. "Your so warm…I must feel like an ice cube to you."

I chuckled, "Yeah, but in a good way."

Her smile winded, and then she sat upright, grabbing my stray hand. "Come on, let's go see what the rest are up to, we are part of the family, after all."

I got up along with her, and we walked across the room, past a large ivory grand piano into what looked like a dining room. Everyone was there, sitting around the long table in a business-like manner. We took our places in two empty chairs at the end of the table across from Alice and Jasper.

"So, what are we going to do? Defend ourselves? Or try to fish up more time?" She looked to Carlisle for the answers, and he nodded.

"For now, we are going to just wait and see what plays out. We'll keep an eye out, and at any sign of their arrival, we'll brace ourselves and do our best."

Edward stood up in objection, "That's not enough, we can't just sit here and _wait_ for them to come in and-"

Carlisle held up a calming hand, "Edward, it's the best we can do, and the safest move for all of us. We'll just have to be patient."

Bella took his hand and gave him a reassuring look, and he slowly sat back down. Everyone seemed so tense, and the room suddenly felt much smaller than it was when I entered. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, and met the eyes of each person in the room. The feeling went from worried, to scared, to even enraged. I for one, was in the same boat as Bella, scared out of my wits, but also worried for the Cullens, that they might get hurt in the attempt to protect their much more delicate members.

"Well, are we all clear?" Carlisle asked, and everyone nodded, "Good. Of course, that means the wedding's is still on, so Alice, you can go ahead with the plans and invites."

Alice's face brightened at this, and Bella grimaced. It was obvious that the two had different views on the whole wedding thing. Alice got up and rushed over to Bella and whispered something in her ear, and Bella's eyes got wide and she groaned. Alice stared her down until Bella caved, and she got up and followed Alice out of the room. Edward quickly got up and followed behind, disappearing around the corner along with the other two.

Dani got up too, and she looked down to me, "I think it's about time to get you home."

I nodded, and got up and followed her out as the remaining Cullens in the room dispersed. We made our way though the front room and out the door onto the empty driveway. It was then when I remembered something that seemed obsolete before now.

"Uh… Dani? In case you've forgotten, my car's dead. And I'm pretty sure that it's not going to miraculously bring itself from the dead anytime soon."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." She led me around the side of the house, and into the massive garage that housed all of the Cullen cars. She flicked on the lights, and there was my suburban.

"Wha- how did you…?" I was a loss for words. That thing was dead, I was sure of it. I rushed over into the driver's side and yanked the door open, jumped inside searching my pockets for my keys, but they where empty.

I frantically commenced a second search through my pockets, but I came up with the same results. I was for sure I had stuck them in my pocket when I couldn't get my car started. I looked up and found them, dangling from Dani's outstretched hand from the passenger seat.

She dropped them in my lap; "I snagged them when you're where to distracted by the smoke coming from the engine. And when we got to the house I gave them to Rosalie and let her work her magic, that's why she wasn't there to greet you."

"You've got to be kidding me. You want me to believe that _Rosalie_ tried to fix my car?" My tone was incredulous; there was no way someone like Rosalie Hale could fix anything _close_ to a car.

"Yes, and she didn't try, she_ did. _Give it a try." She motioned to the keys, and pulled a little remote from her pocket. She pressed a button and immediately the garage door opened, leading out onto the gravel lane. I shoved the key in the ignition, expecting nothing to happen.

I was way off. The car whirred to life, alive with a new passion. I looked over to Dani, who was laughing like a hyena.

I huffed, "Dang."

That just sent her off into another laughing fit.

I waited impatiently, "Are you finished?"

She stifled several giggles, "Yeah, you can go ahead and start driving."

I pulled out of the garage and started to head my way towards my house. Unlike on our way here, I got home without incident, and I could of sworn I had better gas mileage too. When I pulled up in front of my home, Dani hopped out before I even cut the engine. She waited for me and when I joined her she followed me to the front step.

I turned around a gave her a baffled expression, "Why are you following me?"

She smiled, "Don't you remember? I'm here to help you with your graduation invites! We made a deal, and since you kept true to your half, I'm going to have to do mine."

"Oh, I forgot about that." I felt my face heat up, "Well, come on. We have work to do."

We paraded down the front hall, shedding our raincoats and settling in the living room, where I had already set the intimidating piles of cards and envelopes that I had to get done within the next twenty-four hours. We each grabbed a pencil, consulted the long list of addresses and dived into the towering mountain of paper.

She breezed through her half in no time, and I had only gotten through at most a tenth of mine. She waited patiently for me to finish…for about two minutes.

"Man, Mike, how long can you take? I'm dieing over here!" I pursed my lips, and looked up from the invitation I was working on. She was sprawled out across the floor; her arms and legs spread in a perfect X, and did look in fact, dead bored.

"Can't you find something to do while your waiting? It's going to be a while before I'm finished." I smiled, I knew how easily she was entertained, and she just needed the motivation.

She sat up, "How 'bout I help you finish?"

Before I could object, she had already swiped her pen and grabbed a handful of paper and started to scribble away. I looked over her shoulder to see how she was doing it so fast. It was incredible, her handwriting would put any calligrapher to shame, and she didn't even spend more than 0.5 seconds on each sentence. I glanced back at the few invitations I had gotten through, and was embarrassed. Next to her artwork, my writing looked like chicken scrawl.

"Done!" I was snapped back from my mini pity-party to see that the 'to do' pile was now officially non-existent, and that she had finished the rest of the invites in record time. Whoa, talk about your superior speed.

"Great, so now we just need to get these to the post office and…" I was interrupted by the sound to the front door opening, and footsteps coming down the hallway.

"Mike, I hope your working on those invitations, we're already late enough as is." My mom appeared in the door, stopping when she saw our unexpected guest, "Oh, you have a friend over. I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

"It's fine Mrs. Newton, no harm done. I was just helping Mike finish up the invites." Dani smiled, displaying only the finest of good behavior. Ha, if only my mom knew…

"Really? Well that's kind of you." My mother returned her smile, "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met before, I'm Laura Newton, Mike's mother. And you are…?"

"Danielle Cullen, but I prefer Dani." She replied kindly.

"Well, Dani, since you where kind enough to help out, I would be happy to invite you for dinner." Uh-oh, how am I supposed to explain that she can't exactly eat normal food?

"That's kind of you to offer, but I should be getting home, tomorrow we're heading out camping for the weekend and I should be packing. Sorry." She said it so naturally, not a stutter or a pause. I guess there's something to say about experience.

"Well that's too bad. But it was nice for you to drop by and help." My mom looked over to me, "Mike, I'll be starting dinner, wash your hand and come help me with the salad."

"Sure mom, right when Dani leaves, but since when did we have salad as a part of dinner?" We normally just had something simple like lasagna or casserole for dinner, the last time we were cooking a full-out meal was…

"Did I forget to tell you? Uncle Jeb and Aunt Marie are coming over, they're going to be staying here until graduation." My mom said this with enthusiasm, but unlike her, I wasn't so thrilled to have relatives over, especially _those_ relatives.

Dani got up, "Well, I don't want to be a third wheel. I better be heading out."

I followed her, "Wait, let me drive you, you don't have a car."

Dani snickered, "Mike, I already called Alice, she's coming over to pick me up, so you don't need to worry about it. Anyway, you have family coming over, you should be getting ready for them!"

I groaned, we where at the door now, and Dani already had her coat on. "Dani, to tell you the truth, I'm not really fond of them. My aunt and uncle are okay, but my cousins… ugh."

"Don't worry, you'll live. And in case you don't, I'll go to your funeral when I come back on Monday." She opened the door, and just as she had said, Alice was out there waiting in her yellow Porsche. We both stepped out onto the front, and we stood there in silence.

"Well, see you Memorial Day." Dani turned for the car and briskly walked down the driveway to the passenger door. Before getting inside, she looked back to me one last time, smiled, and got in the car. I watched the car until the headlights where out of sight, and then went back inside and joined my mom in the kitchen.

"So, she's a nice girl." My mom mentioned as I was drying my hands off, "How long have you known her?"

I felt my face heat up, "Mom, must you ask me all these questions?"

"I'm a mother, It's my job to ask these questions." She glanced over to me as I joined her and started to tear apart a head of lettuce.

"I've known her for about four weeks." I was bending the truth; I didn't really even talk to her until Monday. But my mom didn't really need to know that.

"Ah, well, it's great that she's spending some quality time with family." I couldn't help but grin at that statement. "And it would also be good if when your cousins are over you spend some thime with them, too."

Woops, that killed the mood. "Mom, I'm sorry, but I just don't relate to Jennifer or Sam."

She frowned "Why not? They're both wonderful kids."

"Mom, Jennifer is a total snob, and Sam's only eleven, and he's to busy reading his auto magazines to pay attention to anything." I knew I would get in trouble for saying this, but it was true. Jennifer was never seen without piles of makeup on and an air of self-inflation following her wherever she went. And Sam was a total car enthusiast, his nose always glued to a car magazine sporting detailed descriptions of all of the newest models. They where the last people I wanted to spend a weekend.

She gave me a stern look, "That's not true. They where nice enough to come all the way from Idaho to be here for your graduation. Now go pre-heat the oven."

We worked in silence for the rest of the time, by the time we were done, the doorbell rang. I sighed, I knew it was them, my dad was going to be gone for the weekend, something had gone wrong with one of the orders and her had to drive down to California to fix it.

"I'll get it, Mike, make yourself presentable." She walked out of the dining room and took a quick glance in the reflection on the microwave door, I looked good enough.

There was a sudden outburst of noise, the voices as my mother greeted the guests as I edged my way into the hallway. I watched from behind as my aunt and uncle tugged off their coats and hung them up, along with my cousins. My aunt was quick to spot me, and she rushed over to me and gave me a giant hug, and held me out at arms length and started pouring over how much I had grown. Next was my uncle, he greeted me with a light punch on the arm and a hearty laugh. Sam just walked right by me into the dining room, his face out of view due to the magazine covering his face.

Then there was Jennifer.

"Hello Mike, how was _your_ year?" she said, her nose as high up in the air.

"Just fine, yours?" I glared at her; I wasn't about to let her take control of my house like last year.

"Hmm, that's nice to hear… any luck on the scene?" She questioned confidently.

Not this again. She had this annoying habit of thinking it was a contest to see who could date the most people in one year. Even though she was a year younger than me, she had probably had gone through half the boys in Idaho by now, she was one of those cheerleader types that go through dates like tissue paper. I, for one, never really dated much. Only Jessica, -and I prefer not to go back on that- and now, I'm pretty sure Dani would count now too.

"Why would tell you? It's my personal life, stay out of it." No way I was going to let her nose get into my relationships, especially now when more is at steak than your average teenage crush.

"I'll take that as a no. Too bad, lately I've been going out with this guy named Cedric, he's gorgeous, and I think he may be a keeper." She gloated, even though I could care less.

"What gives you the impression that I even remotely care?" I was trying to make it as clear as possible to give the vibe that se was _not_ welcome here.

"Mike, Jennifer, dinner's getting cold!" my mom called in from the dining room.

I'll do you a favor and fast-forward the painful evening. I was pelted with questions about my future at dinner, and they continued on until it was time to go to bed. As I was heading back to my room to hit the hay, Jennifer stopped me in the hallway.

"Tell me something," she leaned against the wall, using her leg as a barrier, "I've never really got to know who lives here in town. You care to inform me?"

I gave her a suspicious look, "Why do you all of the sudden want to know, your not planning to spread rumors about me, are you?"

"No, but I have to admit, that was fun back at home." She smirked evilly at the memory, "I'm just curious, and if you don't tell me, I'm sure your mother would absolutely _love_ to tell me."

She had me, my mother would tell her, and most likely tell her more on my personal relationships also. "Fine, I'll tell you tomorrow, but now, I need to sleep."

I tried to step past her, but she held out an arm, "I don't want to know everything, just about your friends, I'm just wondering if I want to meet them during graduation."

I glared at her, "Fine. There's Bella, Angela, Ben, Edward, Alice and Dani. There, happy?"

"Last names?" she sighed.

I scowled, "I'm only saying this once, so listen close. Bella Swan, Angela Weber, Ben Cheney, and Edward, Alice, and Dani Cullen."

She continued to stare at me, "Cullen? That's an odd name."

"Well that's their last name, it's not like they can change it." Why must she take apart everything and make fun of the pieces?

"Fine then, you can pass." She reluctantly removed her arm and leg from my path, fuming. I was quick to pass her, and I locked my bedroom door behind me, no way was I going to let her come in the middle of the night and dig through my stuff, not again.

As I fell into my bed, and turned off my bedside lamp, I silently wished Dani a happy hunting, and was consumed by unconsciousness.

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**Sorry for the long time it took for me to update! Again, my computer's still fried and I have pay for gas each time I want to check my E-Mail, so naturally with the gas prices so high, I don't get to check anything that often. And also… REVIEW!! OR I WILL PROVOKE THE VOLTURI AND BLAME YOU!! BWAHA!!**


	10. Suspictions

A/N: THANK YOU

A/N: THANK YOU! All of the reviews, they are just awsomeness, pure awsomeness. I will be forever in your debt. (Bows in appreciation.) I'm sorry I can't update more often, I don't have Internet and, get ready, lately I've been having a slight bout of –cringe- writers block! It's 'horrible, I know! But I'm approaching a real turning point in the story, so give me a break. Yes, there are some twists and turns that Mike and the Cullens will have to endure! I'll give you a hint: remember Jennifer? Listen what she has to say about Cedric, all I can say is, that he's more important than he seems. Now, on with disclaimers!

_Jennifer's POV_

_Cullen…Cullen…Cullen…where have I heard that name before?_

This I pondered for a good amount of time as I was brushing through my hair. Even though it was Friday when Mike mentioned the Cullens in passing. Now it was Monday morning, and the question was still left unanswered, why do I somehow feel like I have heard of them somewhere?

I put my brush down and left 'my' room, about to head downstairs for breakfast, when I heard my brother shout from the kitchen.

"Holy cow! Is that a real 911 Porsche turbo? I've never seen one of those outside of the car shows!" I entered the kitchen to see my little brother's face plastered to the window above the sink. He was such a dweeb, who cares if an expensive hunk of metal happen to pass by? I sure didn't.

But with a glance through remaining free space of windowpane, I saw that the car my brother was goggling at was pulling into _our_ driveway. What did they want with us? It must have been a mistake; no one that loaded would come close to a downhill town like this.

"Calm down Sam, it's just my friend, Dani." Mike calmly pulled my brother from the glass and hurried to the door. Dani? Don't tell me he actually was able to befriend someone with that type of money, he was a dip, he wouldn't be able to make friends with even the most desperate of dogs.

I listened closely as he opened the door and greeted his latest guest, and I couldn't believe it, _she responded!_ She had to be some brain-dead bottle blond with some rich dad who paid for everything for her; there was no other way someone with even half a brain could talk to my cousin like this.

There was laughing, more words exchanged, and then Mike called out to Aunt Laura that he was leaving, and was out the door. I rushed to the nearest window and shoved my car-junkie brother out of the way in hopes to get a laugh out of how pathetic Mike's friend was.

I didn't get to that. I watched and gawked. It wasn't that she wasn't some stupid dime-for-a-dozen girl, but that she had a striking resemblance to someone I knew. Her pale complexion…shadows under her eyes…strikingly beautiful…Cedric. They could have been related if I hadn't know better, only she had golden eyes, when Cedric's eyes where almost black…whenever I got a glimpse of them under his sunglasses. It was eerie… I had to know more.

I turned away from the window as the fancy car left the driveway, and started searching for my aunt. I had to know more about these Cullens, I just had to.

_Mike's POV_

"Holy cow! Is that a real 911 Porsche turbo? I've never seen one of those outside of the car shows!" Sam exclaimed, and I smiled, that only meant I would soon be delivered from this torture chamber this house has become.

"Calm down Sam, it's just my friend, Dani." Yeah, you guys are yelling at me for not saying girlfriend, but my mom was within hearing distance, and I wasn't quite ready for her to know yet.

After pulling my rather excited cousin from the kitchen window, I rushed to the front door. As expected, when I yanked the door open, Dani was already there, looking as if she had been waiting there for hours.

"I see you haven't died yet." She grinned, getting up from leaning on the side of the house to face me.

"Yeah, but just barely." I smiled back, and held the door open for her.

She laughed, closing the door behind her. "Well, your family better watch out, something even more dangerous is heading their way."

"So, where to?" I asked casually, internally hoping that she didn't suddenly want to meet the family.

"I don't know, I was thinking maybe we could just drive around, stopping wherever we want to stop." She answered, shrugging.

I thought for a moment, "You mean like a mini-road trip?"

"I guess you can call it that. But I was given limitations; we're not allowed to go past Seattle…sorry."

I found myself grinning back, this was classic Dani, "I'm in, just let me tell my mom I'm leaving."

"Alright, mama's boy, I'll be waiting out in the car." She punched my shoulder playfully and headed out to the Porsche.

"Mom, I'm leaving with Dani, okay? I'll be home in time for dinner!" I called down the hallway, and not waiting for a response, headed out myself. Dani was already waiting behind the wheel as I walked towards the passenger door. I took one glance towards the house, only in passing, and caught a glimpse of Jennifer leaving the window. Ha, serves her right.

I slid in beside Dani and fastened my seatbelt as she pulled out of the driveway. "How did you convince Alice to let you borrow her Porsche?"

She grimaced, "I agreed to go shopping with her later on, that was the only way I could get my hands on it. You better be appreciating every second of this, you hear?"

"Yes, I hear." I had a hard time holding back my laughter; she made shopping with Alice sound like being sentenced to the gallows. She must really hate shopping.

We where silent for a few moments, but hen she asked a question that seemed to be completely at random.

"So, who's that girl at your window? Is she one of your much-hated cousins?" She sounded casual, but I could sense curiosity burning closely behind it.

"Yeah, Jennifer. But don't pay attention to her; she's just an air head." I looked over to her, "Why do you want to know?"

"Well, it's just the expression on her face when she saw me…I don't know…it bothered me." Her face crumpled in confusion as we made another turn.

"It's probably because she's never seen a vampire before." I chuckled, but Dani didn't join me.

"That's just it. It wasn't shock, more like…recognition. Like she _has_ seen a vampire before, and by my guesses, at close quarters, too." She sighed, turning to me, "I can't believe it. I actually wish Edward was here to see this. I must be going mad."

We both laughed together, but it was strained. Could Dani be right? Could Jennifer be in contact with this other world without even knowing it? Even when Dani and I's conversations floated away from the subject, my mind was still fretting over what might be a disaster in the making.

_Jennifer's POV_

"Aunt Laura? Aunt Laura?" I poked my head around the house, looking for my aunt who had suddenly disappeared. Then I remembered, she was out in the garden, I had almost forgotten that she had announced that only and hour ago when I was still in my room, applying make-up.

I walked through the sliding door and walked out onto the back porch, "Aunt Laura? I want to ask you something! Aunt Laura?"

There was no answer. I hopped down the steps and started searching the yard, finally reaching the little side garden that my Aunt usually kept with pride. She wasn't there, either; but all of her things where there. Spade, watering can, fertilizer…even a stray glove. I picked up the glove and wondered. That was odd; she only walked outside for a few minutes to tend to the garden, why would she leave in such a hurry?

Suddenly there was a howl, and I spun around to stare into the thick brush lining the Newton's backyard. And for a second, I could have sworn that I saw a pair of crimson eyes.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

**Ha-ha…yeah…Jennifer's point of view. It's the only way I can write on, I swear! Don't worry, this is still Mike's story, I will only change the point of views only when absolutely necessary, okay? What do you think will happen? Don't worry, I'll be updating as soon as I can! And again, thank you for the reviews! And I will really appreciate more of 'em! YAY!**

**-MidnightWalker**


	11. Realizations

**A/N: Hi! Sorry to make the last chapter so short! And this one might be shorter still, because I'm going on vacation and I won't have access to a computer with Internet much! So, on with the Disclaimers!**

**Me: I don't own notion'.**

**Mike: Wow MW, that was uncharacteristically frank for you.**

**Me: Yeah… I haven't done anything Twilight related for a whole hour now, and I think I'm suffering withdraw.**

**Mike: …**

**Me: …**

**Mike: Can we get back to the story now?**

**Me: Sure.**

_Jennifer's POV_

That's when I screamed. I bolted into the house, tackling the phone in my mad rush, and fumbled with the keys until I had successfully dialed 911.

"This is the Forks Police Department, how can I help you?" What?! No emergency service line!? This town really was a hole.

"Yes, I'm calling from the Newton residence, and my aunt disappeared and I think I saw a murderer." My words where coming out in a twisted jumble, I could barely understand them.

"Calm down, now we'll come over and check it out. Did you in fact find a body?" The man on the other end sounded skeptical.

"Why the hell would I go check?! There's a monster in there!" I screeched.

"What did this monster look like?"

"I only saw eyes, but they didn't look human." My heart execrated as I remembered those cold, unearthly eyes.

"What color?"

Uh-oh. Would he really believe the truth? "Uh, I didn't see the color. Sorry."

"That's all right, I think I already know what our culprit is. Just stay inside and make sure no one else leaves the house, understand?"

"mm-hm…I understand." Yeah, I was just about to go out for a nature hike.

I hung up, and sat down on the couch. What had just happened? What did the officer mean by, "I think I know _what_ the culprit is? I closed my eyes and leaned back , trying to relax myself. Panicking was not going to help. Just as long as I stayed inside, whatever was out there wouldn't get me…right?

"I'm sorry you had to see that," and icy voice murmured, "I was thirsty, and I simply had to have a drink before coming to see you."

My eyes snapped open and met with the two ruby-red eyes that I was just hoping to avoid.

_Mike's POV_

Admist my worries, I spotted someone walking along the side of the road, more like running, actually.

"Mom?!" I gasped, turning to Dani to tell her to stop the car, but she was already one step ahead of me. She came to a stop next to my panting mother, and I rolled down my window to talk to her.

"Mom! What are you doing all the way out here?! I thought you where still at home! I-

She held up a finger and caught her breath. "Mike, do you have a phone?"

"Yeah, but mom-

"Call the police, there was another wolf attack." My jaw dropped when she said this.

"How do you-

"I'll tell you, just let me breath." Another breath, and then she began. "I was out gardening when my umbrella blew into the woods, as I went to go get it, I heard something. It sounded like someone was walking, so I went to go see who it was. There was a howl… running… and then I stumbled upon the body of a hiker."

I felt my face grow cold as she continued, " I panicked, and started running in the direction I _thought_ where our house was… but as you can see I guessed wrong. Now that I think about it I'll call, I think I'll be able to explain it better than you can."

I held out my phone to her and she grabbed it and immediately started dialing. I turned back to Dani, about to ask her what we would do when I stopped. Her face was iced over, but worse of all, completely expressionless.

"Dani…Dani! What's wrong?" I grasped her hand, just wanting her to speak.

She shook her head, "I'll explain it to you later. But first, we better drive your mom back to your house."

"Dani, can you give me a brief explanation about what just happened?" I didn't want to be left out of the loop.

"Let's just say your mother is lucky to get out of there with her blood still in her veins." As she said this, I looked back over to my mother, suddenly fearful. That dead body…that could have been her. Suddenly the danger Dani had told me of just a week ago, seemed all too real.

My mind was suddenly playing through different scenarios of what could of happened, all ending in tragedy. I was so consumed by the possibilities, I barely noticed when we started to move forward, and back to my home.

The only thing I was fully aware of was that there was something beastly stalking Forks.

_Jennifer's POV_

"Who are you?" I squeaked, almost losing my voice I was so terrified.

"Why, don't you recognize me?" the creature chuckled, "I'll give you a hint; I'm your boyfriend."

I felt my eyes widen, "Cedric?"

"I was meaning to tell you sooner or later." He smirked, " About my diet and all, most people tend to see it as… repelling."

I didn't move. I could barely even breath, this wasn't happening, it wasn't.

"Aw, look at you, your speechless." He leaned in closer, "Don't worry pet, I won't harm you. At least, not now."

I stumbled away from him, falling to the floor. "Get away from me…your not Cedric."

He straitened up, clicking his tongue. "That's a pity, I come all the way over here, just for you to reject me."

He was next to me in a flash, "Are you sure you don't want to think about this twice?"

His smirk stretched into a gut-wrenching teeth-bearing sneer. I shrunk against the carpet, he was so different then how he was before. I used to marvel at his beauty, and attracted to the impression of strength and superiority he left. Now, his beauty was sickening, unnatural, and the strength and superiority that he held before was frightening.

"I'll take the scilence as a yes." He snickered, and suddenly his head whipped to the side towards the main hallway. "It looks like your friends are here. I guess we'll have to wait until later to continue."

Within a blink of an eye, he was gone. I slowly sat up, dazed, and I barly noticed Mike rushing over next to me and asking if I was alright.

**Now that was chapter eleven! I'll update as soon as I can! Please reveiw!**

** -MidnightWalker**


	12. Party like a vampire

**A/N: Howdy! Here's the next installment of MTLL! Sorry I took so long there was three things holding me back, ****A****-4th of July fireworks, (for those who don't live in the USA, 4th of July is our indipendance day, usually consisting a bunch of red, white, and blue fire works.) ****B****-Limited internet acsess. ****C****-I was sorta surfing through the C2'S half of the time... I felt like takeing a break and read fanfictions rather than write them for about ten seconds. (I found this one story it's called **_**The Mini Cullens**_**, and it's hilarious! I highly suggest it to anyone who is in for a good laugh!)**

**Oh yeah, since I'm away from home, I don't have a working spell check, so please be tolerent with my spelling. It's truely rubbish without outside help.**

**So anyway... Disclaimers! I Don't own anything, Except for all of the annoying OC's you find! Yay!**

_Mike's POV_

This week was turning sour fast. The whole "Wolf" incedent happend on Monday, nearly four days ago, and nothing seems to be turning up.

Apparently my home is right on the treaty line between the Cullens and the wolves, explaining the odd howling. And as if that wasn't enough, the wolves where involved enough to block out Alice's visions, so we still don't know who did it. It's a bitter-sweet deal, Because of the wolves we're still in the dark, but also, if it wern't for the wolves, my mother would be six feet under now.

According to Dani, the wolves scared the attacker off just in time, moments before my mom stumbled on the scene. It's that type of luck that only occured with a lightning strike, causeing Emmett and Dani to give me the nickname of Lucky Charms, or even Anti-Bella Man...seeing as Bella's luck was at the other end of the spectrum.

But the Cullen house seemed to have growen quiet since the incedent, almost everyone trying to find out who's danceing on the treaty line and messing with Alice's visions.

But even worse was, how my home had changed. Jennifer never left her room, let alone the house. She was always quiet on the rare occasion that I saw her, when I asked what was wrong, she shakes her head and walks away. I'm going to kill myself for saying this but...I was worried about her. Even when I would have one of those 'No der' moments with her as a witness, she never even bothered to throw in one insult. If that means anything to anyone...somthing must have happened to her on Monday, that was the only possibility.

"Mike, hurry up! we're going to be late!" My mom called up from downstairs.

I snapped back into reality, and found myself staring down at an ugly-looking yellow graduation gown. I wasn't clothes snob, but this had to be the most apalling garmet on the face of the earth. Again, I'm just saying what I think.

I snatched the gown andcap and took a quick look in the mirror. I was wearing a white dress shrit along with black slacks, not the most creative outfit, but the most formal I could come up with.

Satisfied with the way I looked, I rushed down the stairs to meet my rather annoyed mother.

She started pushing me out the door, "Michal, everyone is already int the car, waiting for you!"

"Sorry mom, I was just preparing! You only graduate once!" I said in defense as she shoved me into the passenger seat of our suberban.

She sighed, "It dosn't matter what your wearing if your not there!"

I looked back to see Jennifer and Same sitting in the two middle seats, Uncle Jeb and Aunt Marie must be headed over later.

Sam's face was hidden by the pages of an auto magizine, same as always. Jennifer was silent, staring out the window and was cluching her handbag. She seemed...scared. I wonder why?

_Jennifer's POV_

_I'll see you at the graduation party._

_ -Cedric_

The image of that one note was embossed on my mind, how did he know about the graduation party? I was so scared, those gleaming red eyes...I never wanted to see them again. But I had a plan, since I had gotten the letter days ago, It gave me time to devise a defence. It wasn't easy, seeing that I had no knowloge of vampires...so I had no idea what would effect him and what wouldn't.

I had a feeling the mace wouldn't be helpful, and garlic seemed like a long shot, seeing as it was most likely just hollywood behind that one. Maybe a steak? I didn't know... sunlight wouldn't help, seeing that the party would be at night. Blood? that might distract him...but that would only make him stronger once he was done, probably.

In the end I stuffed my purse with the closest thing to a steak I could get my hands on, (A pair of chopsticks, of which I filed to make deadly sharp.) a swiss army knife, a cross, and garlic just in the off chance it would work. But somthing told me I was ill-equipped, but I didn't care. This was the best I could do, and I was not going to let him treat me like that. I stared out the window, hopeing this wasn't going to be the last night of my life.

_Mike's POV_

When we got to the school, I was quick to meet up with Dani. We didn't say anything, Dani appeared as if she wanted to tell me somthing, but held it back. What could be so serious to silence the never-bothered Dani?

I came to a quick conclusion, "Alice saw somthing, didn't she?"

"Yeah, we know who was in the forest now." She sounded so...-excuse the pun- _dead_, it worried me, she was acting sort of like Jennifer. I was seeing somthing that I never thought I would live to see- Dani looked scared. She was figity also, always looking from left to right, as if something could suddenly pop out of nowhere, whoever was in the forest must be a big thret...

"Who?" I tried to force my way in front of her, I wanted to know what was makeing her act like this. I needed to help her, but I couldn't do that when I didn't even know what the problem was.

"Cedric. He's not from the Volturi, but he's still a problem. Especially since he decided to show up at our little party tonight. But we out number him, so we'll be able to take care of it before it gets to serious." She was trying to mask her feelings with false confidence, it wasn't working.

I grimaced, the only thing worse than a party crasher was a vampiric party crasher. "So no party?"

"Na, we're still going ahead with it, he's not planning any violence, so we'll just pull him outside and reason with him." Her words wavered at the end, she wasn't telling the whole truth, I knew it.

"Dani-"

"Mike, can this wait until later? I think you should be concentrating on graduating, not this." And with that, our conversation ended. The cerimony went without a hitch, but there was a feeling of impending doom, knowing of what nasty trap that was headed our way.

_Jennifer's POV_

As we got out of the car, I couldn't help but marval at the scene. The Cullen house surrounded by lights, makeing it clear where the party was. I followed Mike and his girl-friend, Dani, into the house.

The inside was even more decked out. The entire front room looked like a night club, the main lights turned down and colored strobe lights flashing across the dance floor in time with the base of the current song. Even though I knew who would be on the guest list, I couldn't help but be a little excited, this looked like it could turn out to be one heck of a party.

Mike had dissappered in the growing crowd as I started to talk to some of the juniors who had started to come. The fear wasn't as apparent here, with the music blarring from the speakers and everyone appearing to have a good time, nothing seemed to go wrong.

I was in the middle of a conversation (coughflirtationcough) with a guy named Eric, when it happend.

"Cheating, are we?" I felt an icy hand slip on my shoulder, and I spun around, coming face-to-face with the epitame of all my fears.

Suddenly this seemed like the worst place to meet him. The strobe lights flashed against his alabaster skin, giving the sense that he was faintly glowing, makeing him look even more frightening with his alieness.

"Stay away...from me." I choked out, all the strength of the statement lost with the pause.

"Really? And what are you going to do about it?" His arm snaked down to the small of my back. I suddenly felt a swell of anger, if he moved his hand down one more inch...

"Or I'll end you! That's what!" The space between us and the rest of the guests started to grow as people started to notice the fight.

He had the nerve to laugh, "Exactly how are you going to do that?"

"Like this!" I yanked out the chopsticks a with all my strength, slammed the filed ends into his chest where his heart was supposed to be.

There where gasps, not because I had just murdered someone; because I _failed_ to mureder someone. The chopstciks snapped and broke into splinters, as if I was driving them into a rock, not flesh.

My pitiful attempt made him laugh harder, "Is that all you got?"

"No!" My hand dove into my bag, and my fingers wraped around the swiss army knife...

"CEDRIC!" The voice screamed over the music, and everyone turned to see all of the Cullen storm over towards us. The one who yelled was Carlisle, but he wasn't the most outraged person on the dance floor.

He smirked, "And who are you, may I ask?"

"Someone who you should be listening to, that's who." Dani had elbowed her way to the front, and Mike was close behind.

"Ah, Danielle, long time no see. How have you been manageing lately?" His eyes rested on Mike, and he smirked, "My, you recover from a broken heart quickly, don't you?"

Mike was the one to shout this time, "What does it matter to you anyway?! Leave her alone!"

"Are you really the one to be saying that? What match are you to me? Your weak, hideing behind those dominent over you. I can't believe they even considered to talk to somthing as low as your lot." he sneered, he was right, he was a preditor, Mike wasn't. Cedric could make mice meat out of him whenever he wanted.

But that also meant that there was no hope for me either. Suddenly I remembered what came to my mind when I was listing way I could "take care" of Cedric.

_Blood will only distract him..._

It clicked, a distraction, that's what I could provide. By now I had concluded that the Cullens must have been vampires also, but different. They had the power to overthrow him, but not without a price of the delicate humans who will brobably lose their lives in the carnage. But I could change that...

I flicked the pocket knife open, took one last breath, and slit my wrists, right when the last song had ended.

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**BAHA! I WON'T UPDATE UNLESS... YOU REVEIW! What will happen to Jennifer? Is Cedric going to be ended, or will the blood distract someone other than him? Reveiw and find out!**

**Hidey-Ho,**

**MidnightWalker**


	13. PANIC

**OM-Good-Golly-Gosh! I'm soooooooooooooooo sorry!! I was rushing out the door and clicked the wrong document! This is sooooo embarressing! Well, here's the _real _13****th**** Chapter of MTLL!! I had to cut it in half because of lack of time, so it's uber-short! I don't own anything! On with the show!**

Everything happened at vampire speed from then on. There where shouts from the rest of the party, screaming as they watched Cedric maul Jennifer, but that wasn't the only violence that was to be feared. Jasper lost it, and Carlisle, Alice, Esme, and Emmett where trying to hold him back. I spun around searching for the rest of the Cullens. Edward was holding Bella in his arms, Rosilie was herding the paniced party-goers out the door, but where was Dani?

Carlisle seemed to be thinking the same thing, "Emmett! Go and find Dani and restrain her before she gets to anyone!" As he shouted this, I froze. _Before she gets to anyone? To restrain her?_

"_It's hard to go against the grain like that? Isn't it?"_

"_Yes it is. It' s like a diet, no matter how strict you are with yourself, and no matter how many opportunities there are to take the sweets instead of the caret sticks, in the end it's all the same." Her eyes saddened, "You will always long for them, and sometimes, when the pressure is too strong, you'll find yourself cheating."_

_Find yourself cheating…_ No, that's not like her. She wouldn't… would she?

My worst fears where confirmed when I heard a loud smashing from above, followed by a prolonged hiss. In a blur, Dani was back on the dance floor, but she had other things other than dancing in mind. Emmett quickly followed her, but he just barely missed her with each time he grabbed. The two crashed into Jasper and the rest, breaking him free and the two raced for the dull crimson that was poured out across the floor.

My stomach twisted in horror and disgust as I watched the mad frenzy. Vaguely it reminded me of those shark specials on Animal Planet, violent, gory, and run purely on instinct. The rest of the Cullens rushed to separate them, and I was soberly guided out by Edward, who was also towing a rather terrified-looking Bella also. We slipped out the back door, avoiding the growing crowed out in front.

"Mike, I think you need to sit down, your looking pretty pale." I felt Bella place her hand on my shoulder. She was shaken too, but not nearly as bad as I was. It wasn't Edward who was ripping apart my cousin back there.

She led me to the trunk of one of the old oak trees, and I slid down to sit on the grass. Bella left me to think this all over and joined Edward, and I was thankful for that. I knew what she was, but I never truly knew what she was capable of until now. Those empty eyes…the eyes of a monster. No, I didn't think that. I couldn't judge her on something that she couldn't control.

There was another crash from inside, and a black figure sped out of the house into the night.


	14. So Mike, what do you think of the UK?

A/N: Ello

**A/N: Ello! I'm back! Sorry for the long delay! I don't have much to say but… If you want to check out my forum, go ahead! It's called, "Fanart for Fanfiction: The BURNING question?" In order to find it you might have to go under topic count, (go towards the back, I only have two topics!) Anyway, I don't own anything!**

_Mike's POV_

There was another crash from inside, followed by a loud string of curses. After a prolonged silence, the rest of the Cullens came from the house. The last ones out where Jasper and Dani, along with Carlisle who appeared to be speaking to them, but his words where to fast and soft to decipher.

They looked terrible.

Jasper's coat was hanging in shreds from his shoulders, and one of his pant legs was torn almost all the way up the outer seams. It looked like he was run through a giant paper shredder. Dani was in worse shape.

Almost her entire outfit was in ribbons. Before, she had been wearing a simple outfit with black slacks, and navy-blue sweater. Now the slacks had been reduced to short-shorts, and her sweater was now more of a sweater vest with the arms torn off.

But worse of all, their eyes both consisted of a light ring of crimson.

We all stood there, everyone trying to find what to say, and Emmett was the first to speak.

"So now what? How are we going to deal with this?" His voice was hard, and for once, he was completely serious.

"I hate to say this, but we only have two choices. Stay here, and face the town of Forks and the Volturi…" Carlisle turned away from Jasper and Dani and met eyes with everyone, "Or we can try to run, but we'll probably just get caught in the end."

Carlisle's words hung in the air like a dense fog, horrifying, but undenyably true.

"I think… we should run. I can't see anything now, but at least if we run, we have time." Alice's voice was quiet, but her words made perfect sense. "The question isn't _if _we got caught, it's _when_. Giving up now would just be handing ourselves to the Volturi, but if we ran, we would at least we'll be free for awhile before being cut short."

Edward nodded, "I agree, might as well take the time we have and run with it."

"Anyone opposed?" Carlisle asked, but no one spoke. "I'll take that as a no. Edward, grab Bella, We're going to be running since we can't drive with all the people on our doorstep. Once we hit Seattle, we'll meet up at the airport and decide where to go from there, are we clear?"

Everyone shook their heads, and one by one, each Cullen disappeared into the brush, until it was only me…and Esme.

She was already one step ahead of me. "Mike, Dani's not in good condition to be carrying you, so I agreed to do it. Is that all right?"

I nodded, I was only worried about the many possible meanings behind "not in good condition." But now wasn't the time for questions, and she grabbed my hand a gently pulled me up onto her back.

Then we where off.

It didn't take as long as one would think. Instead of the three hours that regular commuters take to get from Forks to Seattle, it only took about a sixth of the time.

But even with the minimal travel time, I was a little impatient. I wanted to see Dani. I wanted to talk to her, to hold her close… to tell her that it didn't matter what happened tonight, that I still loved her. By the time we had arrived to the airport, I was ready to scream.

I rushed through the front doors, scanning the crowds for her. It didn't take long, she was with the rest, now sporting a knee-length jacket that hid the shorn horrors she was wearing.

After elbowing through an endless crowed, getting yelled at by various travelers, and dodging numerous amounts of stray luggage, I made it.

But when I saw her up close, I froze. Her face was expressionless, just as iced over and cold as her eyes.

That was before she saw me.

When our eyes met, her features took a sharp turn for the worse. Sadness and guilt surfaced, and she quickly turned away before I could see more.

"I think it would be better if you left her be for a while, I know leaving Jasper alone when something like this happens always helps." I turned to see Alice standing next to me. She was giving me a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure? What if…"

"Don't worry, I have a feeling that she'll be okay." Alice tapped the side of her head, smile growing wider.

I gave her a half-hearted smile in return, not really feeling relief.

Suddenly her face went blank, but before I could react, she was back to normal.

"So, Mike. What do think of the UK?"

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

**Okay! I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner, and it will also be longer now that I actually have time to write now. REVEIW! And also… I have a poll on my bio if you want to go and check it out and vote. It has nothing to do with MTLL, just me being curious.**

**Hoby-ho,**

**-MidnightWalker**


	15. Aro's Plan

A/N: Ello

**A/N: Ello! Yeah, I know what this is… A PROMISE BROKEN!! OMG-G-G!! Yes, this is an uber-short chapter, going against on what I've been trying to avoid! Oh no! It just didn't work when put in front of another chapter, or at the end of a chapter. Aro just wanted to have the chapter to himself, so blame him!! Oh yeah, this is also something new that will hopefully only occur in this chapter…THIS CHAPTER IS WRITTEN IN THRID-PERSON NARRITIVE!! GASP!! Anyway, I don't own the Volturi, nor Italy, even though that would be awesome.(Italy I mean!)**

Jane burst through the doors, she finally had the news that the entire Volturi have been waiting for in years. Or at least, the news _she's_ been waiting for.

"Aro, the Cullens…" she sped up to him, and took a small bow before continuing. "They revealed their secret, and are fleeing to England. We have warriors tracking them, and with your word, we'll attack."

Aro looked down to the small vampire, and answered, "Give me your hand. I want too see the full story."

Jane obediently held out her hand, and Aro brushed her palm with his long, pale fingers.

After a pause, he shook his head. "Call back the trackers, we don't want to confront them just yet."

"But sir, with all due respect, why wait when we can go in and wipe them out now? They are even-

"Harboring two humans, both know the secret. I saw that Jane. Just think for a moment, if we just barge in and destroy them all, then what would we gain from it? Some of them have true potential, and it would be our loss if we killed them."

Jane was catching on, "So if we give them a reason to join us instead of just wiping them out…"

Aro nodded, "We'll be stronger then ever. And we don't even need all of them, if the weaker ones refuse, then we can go ahead and dispose of them."

"So…what do we do now? If we're not going to take action…" Jane trailed off, thinking.

"Now, we wait. Give them a false sense of security. Then we slowly work them from the inside out." Aro finished.

"How will we do that?"

Aro smirked, "I have connections."

**Okay! Chapter fifteen, now up and ready! REVEIW!! Oh yeah, lets all clap for my friend, EdwardandBellaTruLove4Ever, for getting a C2 on her fanfiction, 'The Cullens Play Sports'! That's a HUGE milestone in my eyes! Lets all clap for her! -clapclapclapclap-!**

**From one who's head's in the clouds,**

**-MidnightWalker**


	16. First Class

A/N: All right

**A/N: All right! Here's another chapter of MTLL! Again, it's oh so short… but I couldn't help but end it where it did! Like what Aro did to me, Mike and Dani just HAD to have a chapter to themselves! Oh, on an sort of off topic… I was watching one of the new Avatar's, when I saw something that almost killed me. Zoko, (Is that how you spell his name?) who of which I never really paid any attention to before, Suddenly reminded me of Edward. He had a dreadful past, but wanted to somehow make up for it, and is set on being good! And if that's not enough… His eyes are TOPAZ! AHHHHHH! Next to all the Edward emo-ness, that nearly set me off into hysterics.**

**Moving right along…**

**Disclaimer: Me no own. Mrs. Meyer own. Got it?**

It wasn't long until we got onto the plain for New York, once we landed there, we where scheduled for a flight to London.

We where in first class -big surprise- and I settled down into an roomy window seat. Up until now, I've only flown in coach, so this was a nice change. But I knew there was more reason behind the Cullen's buying first-class ticket where more than that they simply could afford it. No, I knew it would be less of a strain on them being trapped into a human-packed airplane if they where in airy first-class, and not the crammed coach.

But as I look around, I notice that everyone was already sitting down except for Dani, who had just walked through the doors, and The seat next to me was the only one open. When I put two-and-two together, I was hit by a sudden bout of deja-vu. _This was almost identical to that first day in biology!_ Well, I just hope this turns out better then it had back then.

She took her place next to me, stiff as a rod. I didn't say anything, still holding on the tiny hope that she would say something to break the ice. But it was only a hope.

We continued to sit there silently as the plane took off, and for a long while afterward.

Finally, I summoned up enough courage to talk. "Hi."

"Hi." She replied, barely even turning toward me as she spoke.

I sighed, this was worse than I thought. "Are you still upset about…you know."

"I guess you could say that." She murmured, "But I have to say that I'm just flat out struck that your still here."

My jaw dropped, "What do you mean by that?!"

"Come on Mike, _I killed your cousin!_ No matter how much you disliked her, you have to be horrified." She was still not looking my way, but at least she was telling me _something_.

"Dani, _Cedric_ killed her! You should know that!" I gawked, she didn't really think that she was behind all this, did she?

She was quiet for a few moments, glaring off into space, before burying her face in her hands. "I know Mike, but I…"

"Stop. It's not your fault that Jennifer was stupid and decided to go emo right in the middle of the party. You couldn't control yourself, I might not fully understand, but I do know enough to forgive you, and Jasper." I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as I finished, letting her know that I really meant it.

She looked up from her hands, finally facing me.

A small, almost invisible smile played across her lips, "Mike, your too forgiving for your own good."

"It's a talent." As soon as that was said, we embraced eachother in one long, loving hug.

We remained that way until a hard cough came from behind us, probably Carlisle signaling all the unwanted attention we where attracting. Reluctantly, we settled with holding hands instead.

I didn't know about Dani, but I was incredibly relieved that this was finally over with, and that we could finally just kick back and relax.

If only I knew how wrong I was.

**Here you go! REVEIW!**

**Now on to chapter 17…**

**All's well,**

**MidnightWalker**


	17. Bad News

**HI! Aliright, confession time. I've been really lacking on my writing, but I've been working on it in my head, I swear! Here's chapter seventeen! NOW FOR DISCLAIMERS!**

**Mike: Why are you making us flee for the border?  
Me: Because I feel like it.  
Mike: Grrr. You know, if it wasn't for Dani I wouldn't bother with you.  
Me: WHAT?! WHY!  
Mike: Because you don't own me! or Twilight!  
Me: BUT I WANNA! WAAAAAAAA!  
Mike: And they say DeNile is only a word in Egypt...**

"How long do we have to stay here? I don't know about you guys but I'm not really eager to live in a hotel, I think we should leave that to the hermits." Dani complained as we sat down on the sofa. Everyone had gathered in the main room of the presidential sweet; Emmett and Rosalie sitting across from us in the love seat, Jasper was leaning against the opposite wall with Alice sitting close by on a cushion. Edward, Bella, and Esme where all congregated around Carlisle and his laptop over at the dinner table.

Carlisle looked up from his laptop, "I think where we stay is the least of our worries. Look at this."

We completed the group around Carlisle and directed our attention to the screen. I recognized the site, the green menu bar and plain text at the top that read "The Forks Gazette".

I continued down to the article shown, scanning the first line. _Forks faces the unexplainable._

_For many years, Forks has been just one of those small towns that never really dealt with anything big. That all changed within the last week._

_Friday night, Forks faced the unexplainable with the brutal murder of Jennifer Carter, a visiting relative of the Newton's. She had been attending the graduation party hosted by the Cullen house hold, killed right on the dance floor in front of half of the student body. There are many accounts of what happened, but three factors come up in all of them._

_"I was just there to have a good time." Says Jessica Stanley, "I never thought the whole thing would turn into a brawl."_

_When asked what she remembered happening she recounted something you would think belongs in the script of a B-grade horror film. "I was talking to Jennifer shortly before it happened, and she had moved on to my friend Eric. But in the middle of the conversation this big tall guy came up behind her and said something. She looked scared, and then she pulled something, it looked like two skinny wooden spikes, and drove them into his chest. Well, I think tried would better term for it though. It was creepy, the spikes just sort of splintered, and it never broke skin, heck, he only laughed. Then the Cullens noticed the commotion and tried to get him out of there. He refused. Somehow Jennifer was cut, and suddenly this guy was on top of her, teeth on her wrist, and two of the Cullens looked like they where after her too. I was pushed out before I could see anything more, but...it wasn't human what I saw there. That was a monster, and not just in metaphorical terms. And I think the Cullens fall in the same boat."_

_We had talked to Eric Yorkie, Lauren, and other attendees, all have their differences but have same core point. There was a unidentified man there who seemed to be mainly responsible, but also that the Cullens seemed to be involved in this also. And thirdly, all seem to agree that what had happened is more than the work of a madman._

_Though the fact that the Cullens are involved is a whole new situation. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen and all of their children had no reason to be suspicious of anything shady before. All of the kids had straight A's and where excelling into some cases Ivy League. The Doctor and the Wife seemed open enough, Carlisle worked over at the local hospital, and seemed to enjoy his job and whenever his wife was seen she seemed just like the perfect mother. Nothing to be suspicious of right?_

_We asked Charlie Swan for an insider's view of the Cullens. "Great people, my only exception are Edward. I never trusted him, left my daughter cold turkey and four months later he thinks he can come back completely forgiven? Ha! There was always something wrong with the way he acted now that I think about it. Always overprotective. He also never stayed long enough for dinner or anything. Very suspicious kid."_

_We also interviewed Mrs. Laura Newton, whose son had been spending time with the Cullens recently. "I never had anything against it, they seemed to be the right crowed for him to be with. They never got into trouble, responsible parents, nothing was wrong. But he did start acting a little strange after awhile with them, more withdrawn, like he was hiding something. I looked this over before, but now...I think I should have looked into this more."_

_Both parents are still looking for their children, right along with the police looking for the now convicted Cullens. They are now obviously in league with them for what they where standing for, enough to run from the scene from them._

_But that brings us back to the question, what had happened back there? All of the evidence seems to point to something that isn't supposed to be in the sane world...could it be possible that a whole new threat is out there? That we have more to fear rather than lunatics and madmen? Could it be possible...that maybe some things that we claim to be just legend is actually lurking out there?_

_No one knows how to answer these questions, but there's one thing for certain: The answers lie with the Cullens._

I stared at the last line for a good ten minutes before snapping out of the trance that I was in.

This was bad. This was very, very bad. If the Volturi are on the Cullens for just letting two trusted humans knowing the secret, then what about a whole town and the local gossips?

That was a question that was apparently never going to be answered, because it looked like even Carlisle didn't know exactly to do now.

"They're going to find out." Alice murmured flatly, still staring at the screen.

I looked around, desperate for at least a little hope. "Well, it can't get worse than this, right?"

No one answered, and everyone returned to where they where before, but all the calm was gone. Dani walked over to me and hugged me, burying her head into my shoulder.

It was then I knew, there wasn't any way we could sink lower. We where already at the bottom.

**Okay, there it is! CHAPTER SEVENTEEN! Yay! Now, I promise there won't be as big of a gap between now and eighteen, I promise! And I won't break said promise either! Now... REVIEW! OR YOU WILL NEVER GET A YUMMY CUPCAKE LIKE THIS ONE! -- )**


	18. Beautiful Dreamer

**Howdy! Alright, now for the next entry in the MTLL series... chapter 18!! Alright, I just want to say somthing before I write. Two things actually. I had planned everything that would happen in MTLL since about mid-July, so no. I won't be fitting it to BD. Just take a time warp and pretend that you don't know what happened in BD, and not spam me for not following it. Secondly, TeamVampire, are you like, Alice in disguise or somthing? Because I was going to do just that, a cahpter from Jessica's POV concerning what had happend in Forks! I have to give it to ya, you are either very, very good a predictions... or I'm a very predictable writer. Oh well, ON WITH THE DISCLAIMERS!!**

**Me: Narrrrrrgggggg!**

**Mike: What's made you so annoyed to have you break out in ork talk?**

**Me: SCHOOL! I grr at school!**

**Mike: Wow... I feel sorry for you man.**

**Me:Yeah, maybe if I ownd all of you, I could become famous and not go to school!  
Mike: But you don't. And you never will. now go prepare for school like a good little student.**

**Me: -mutters somthing uninteligible and continues to write.-**

_Jessica's POV_

I was sitting on the front steps of my house, looking through a building haze across the road. The only thing I could see was one lone figure, standing motionlessly across from me. Flickers of sunlight occasionly filtered through the fog, and I saw a flash of golden blond hair.

Mike? I thought he was gone for good! My pace quickened to see if was actually true that he had returned, if it was, maybe he could tell me what the whole deal with the Cullens was about...

I got up and rushed over, curiosity overwhelming me, until I was only few feet behind him. I stood there, waiting for him to notice me, but he never stirred. _Come on, come on! Is it really so hard to figure out theres someone next to you?!_

"Mike?"

That got his attention, he turned around, and I gasped. It could tell I it was him, but just barely. He had changed, his skin was as pale as moonlight, his features more defined and... his eyes. It was his eyes that froze me to where I stood. Instead of that familiar baby blue that I had come to know, they where a gut-wrenching ruby red.

He cocked his head for a moment, as if it was _him_ who couldn't reconize _me_. "Yes?"

I almost felt sick when I heard his voice. Wait, I take that back, that wasn't his voice, it was too perfect... it wasn't human.

"It's me, Jess." My words souded strangled as they left my lips, how could he not know me?

"Jess..." he still looked confused, and I couldn't help but feel overwhelming sense of defeat. But then recognition flickered across his face.

"Ah! Now I know!" His gaze suddenly became darker, "Your that girl from Forks that revealed my family's secret."

"Secret? What do you mean?!" But his stare did lighten, what was he talking about?!

Suddenly, Dani apeared through the dense fog and took her place next to Mike, smirking, revealing two menceing fangs.

"Great to see you again...Jessica."

--

"Vampires!" I shot up, gasping for air.

"What?!" Lauren jerked off her bed, meeting the floor with a loud _thud_.

It took me a moment to realize where I was, not in the damp streets of Forks, but in Lauren's room for a sleepover. Now with the panic quickly being replaced by embaressment, I looked over to where Lauren was now realizing that it had all been a false alarm.

"Sorry," I murmered, "Bad dream."

"Well, thanks for the wake up call at... one-thirty in the morning." She groaned sarcastically as she stumbled back into bed.

I glanced over to the digital alarm clock that was placed on her desk in the middle of the room. She was right, this was probably the absolute worst time for somthing like this to happen.

"Double sorry, this has never happened to me before." I flopped back onto my pillow, sighing.

Lauren yanked her blankets back into place before settleing."What was it about?"

"Don't make fun of me, but it was about vampires." I stared up at the celing, shuddering at the memory of the bright crimson eyes.

"I already figured that out when you screamd VAMPIRE at the top of your lungs. Get to the details."

I bit my lip, "Well, in it, I saw Mike along with Dani, and they both where... you know."

Lauren laughed, "Mike? He dosn't really strike me as the pale and shady type if you ask me. But I can get Dani. Did you see her at that party? honestly if I didn't know better..."

Then it clicked. "Lauren, what if we didn't? The evidence is all there, even the autopsy simply screamed 'monster'!"

Lauren groaned, "Don't remind me of that medical crap. It makes me sick just thinking about it."

"Come on Lauren, there wasn't any blood left in her body! And the the attack started when blood was drawn, call me crazy, it sort of points in that direction."

"Jess, I think you need to get some rest. I'll give it to ya, the whole theory _seems_ plausible, but is it logical?"

"Who cares about logic anymore?! Honestly, a hundred years ago everybody thought it wasn't "logical" to capture electricty and use it as a light sorce so why not?!"

Lauren propped herself up on her elbow, "Mr. Edison was an inventer, people are _supposed_ to think their crazy at first."

"The same with explorers. Everyone thought those first people to find a platapus where crazy, and now look where that ended up! Vampires are the same as how platapuses where, undiscovered but real." I started to get out of bed, and tried to find my slippers.

"As much as I'm amazed at your comparison with mythical monsters with duck-beaver things, I have to say I'm not convinced." She eyed me suspitiosly as I started to head for the door. "Where are you going?"

"Computer. I'm going to submit my theory to the news website."

"You got to be kidding me. You can't actually expect for them to believe you." Dispite her words, Lauren got up and followed me to the door.

I opened to door, "That's why I'm going to be makeing it an unsighned sujestion."

And sure enough, after thrity minutes of slow internet acsess and argueing on what I should type, it was finally up.

"Okay, you got your wish, now can we please go back up and get some rest before we're caught?" Lauren started to edge back into the hallway, but I was still sitting firmly at the computer.

"You can go ahead, there are just a few things I want to check before I go." I whent up to the right hand corner of the screen and clicked the Google search icon as I said this.

"Fine, just to spend your entire night camping here."

I looked over my shoulder to make sure I was really alone. Satisfied, I turned back to the Google main page. And in the box, I hesitently typed in the letters. V...A...M...P...

"Vampires"

**Alright, I turns out that I might just be switching between the veiw points of Mike and Jessica. Weird how things fall into place like that. Well, REVEIW!! that's all I can say!**

**Thanks bunchs!**

**-MidnightWalker**


	19. MTLL Short: Mike's May Basket

**A/N: OHMIGOSH I'M ALIIIIIIVE! Okay, before you pull out your AK 47s and shoot me where I stand, let me apologize. Yes, I know I said I'd update over the school year... but you all saw how well that turned out. Drowned in arithmatic, I suddenly realized that fanfiction wasn't my top priority anymore *legasp*. And now, over six months later and Summer on the horizen, I crawl back here, tail between the legs, realizeing that I left Mike and Dani here to die before they even had their first kiss. But now, I'm pulling out my handy-dandy Harry Potter wand and bringing them back *yayz*! But I'm afraid you won't get another chapter until later on this May *grrrz*. Right now, to let you know they didn't toatally leave my mind in the classroom, I bring you this little May-Day-themed short with the two. Please R&R, and remember my readers- I don't own Twilight, Stephnie Meyers does. I'm just a hopless fanpire who just can't get enough of the faboulous cast!**

_Mike's POV_

"There," I said as I placed the last daisy into place, "Now it's perfect."

I took a step back to admire my work, a small leftover easter basket filled with colerful flowers with a card tucked elgently at the side reading _Danielle Cullen_.

I've never been a big fan of May Day. To me, it's just some forgetable tradition of friends and lovers giving eachother cups and baskets filled with cadies and flowers. Normally Jessica would slip one onto my doorstep, but that isn't really much of an event worth waiting for.

But _this _year, I had sombody to give one to.

I grabbed the wicker hadel and checked my watch. _11:45 am,_ I had pleanty of time to run up to the Cullen's and slip this on their porch and hightail it before they came back from their hunting trip.

Pulling out my car keys, I slipped out of the front door, breathing in the crisp Saterday morning air. I began to jog to the car, not noticeing the Ford rusting on the curb in front of my house before it was too late.

_Whump!_ I spun around, to see none other than Jessica now faceplanted on our front walk where she tripped. She got on her knees and looked up, blushing as she attempted to act surprised.

"Oh, hi Mike! Guess you caught me, huh?" She motioned to the broken basket in front of her, the contents launched across the driveway.

I sighed, "What is it Jessica?"

She got up, compleatly ignoring my question, "You caught me trying to give you a may basket, you know what that means?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, a look that chilled me to the bone.

I took a step back, worried, "No, and I don't really want to know, either."

"It'll come to you."

Edging away, I shook my head, "Look, Jess, I need to go drop something off-

"It means you got to kiss me, moron!" Jessica rolled her eyes and grabbed my by the wrist, "Come on, Lauren's waiting in the car."

"What the- What are you doing?!" I dug my heels into the ground, frantically trying to slow progression towards the puke-colered vehical, "Let go!"

"Calm down, I'm just taking you to a movie- and Lauren's driving." He reached into her pocket and waved two cinima tickets in the air before giving me one last jerk towards the car.

I slammed against the window, crushing part of my May basket somewhere between my butt and car door. I looked down, heart sinking when I saw that the half dozen roses where bent in more than an origami swan.

Jessica peeked over my shoulder, realizing for the first time that I was holding a May basket of my own. She beamed, "Is that for me? You shouldn't have!"

Before I could protest, she snatched it from me, picking a daylily from the surviver's section. She spun it between her fingers, happily watching the petals twirl, "Thanks Mike."

I watched her awkwardly, "Um, actually-"

The Ford's horn blared, splitting my eardrums before I could finish my scentance. Jessica groaned- well, I think she groaned, I couldn't really hear yet -and yanked the backdoor open, yelling somthing along the lines of 'Lauren-I-swear-if-you-do-that-at-the-theater-I'll-scalp-you'. Then she kindly guided me into the back seat, shutting the aged door after we where both settled.

Sitting in front of me was a rather pissed off (Well, more pissed off than usual) looking Lauren. She glared at us through the rearveiw, muttering something about missing the last episode of ER. Jessica seemed unphased by the mood that was emmiting from Lauren in waves, and simply said, "You can go anytime, you know."

We lurched forward and started rolling down the damp street, chugging out of town towards Port Angles. After about ten minutes of awkward scilence, I finally broke the ice, "So, uh, what are we going to see?"

Jessica grinned, handing me one of the crumpled tickets, "It's May Day, a.k.a may first, a.a.k.a opening day of the most awsome movie ever- Dimlight!"

I gave her a blank stare before consulting the paper in my hands. _Dimlight, 1:00 showing. Thank you for preordering on !_ She must have been looking forward to this, because she obviously ordered this months in advance.

After another scilence, she poked me in the shoulder, "Mike, you do know what Dimlight is- don't you?"

To my misfortune, I shook my head.

"OH. MY. GOD. YOU. HAVE NOT. LIVED." She gasped before launching into a mile-per-minute synopsis of the book-turned-film. Apperently, it was about this girl named Becca who moves from Las Vegas to Juno, Alaska to live with her dad, Charles. Within her first week at her new school she meets this mysterious boy named Edmund who at first seems to hate her but doesn't really and then turns out to be a vampire. They fall in love and have to face these 'Bad Vamps', led by the Sadistic Jethro, who want to kill Becca. In the end, Jethro is defeated and Becca and Edmund are reunited until the next book which Jessica let slip that Edmund ditches Becca for her own good.

I have to say, the plotline sounded eerily familiar.

By the time Jessica had explained, renacted, and recited the first three chapters of the book, we where there. As soon as the car stopped, Jessica snatched me and my May basket out of the car and bolted for the ticket office line where other teenage girls stood squealing. After handing in our tickets and spending twenty bucks -from my wallet, of course- worth of popcorn I questioned Jessica about her bringing in the basket.

"To serve as a reminder," She said, "You still have to kiss me."

We settled down in the middle of the thearter, and within minutes we where surrounded by fangirls. I gazed around the thearter, finding only one other male in the room besides me. We looked at eachother across the isle, exchanging a _I feel your pain, bro,_ look before the lights went down and the movie flikered onto the screen.

I have to say, it was an O.K movie, though I couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that I'd seen this all before. We where the last to file out of the thearter, Jessica firmly planting herself into her seat until the last credit dissappeard.

We walked out of the thearter in scilence, stopping just a few feet from the car. Jessica clutched the May basket eagerly, crushing a few carnations in the process. "So," she started, "How about that kiss?"

I shifted my weight uneasily, trying to think of some way to postphone it, "Well, uh, I don't think we should keep Lauren wait-"

Jessica dropped the flower basket and grabbed my shoulders, pulling me into a one-way kiss. Our lips- and noses - crushed together like two steam engines, mine gaining most of the damage. She held me there for what seemed like years, eyes screwed shut as she clutched my limp noodle of a body against hers.

Thankfully, she was human, and had to breathe. She let go with a gasp, as if our smooch had been any more passionate than that of a skunk and a fence post. She wiped her lips, eyes bright, "That was amazing!"

Not wanting to provoke another attack, I just stood there, smiling.

She opened the car door, sticking her head inside and shooting what sounded like another threat toward Lauren before she could honk the horn again. Grasping the oppertunity, I dove down and scrambled to gather what was left of the basket. I shoved the card in my back pocket and dumped the now wilted flowers in and sprinted down the street before Jessica had a chance to turn around and stop me.

It only took me five minutes to huff to a exausted halt by a sign a few streets away. It was a taxi sighn, one of the two that existed in Port Angles, and I started waving frantically to get a yellow car's attention.

With an amazing stroke of luck, one pulled up just as the Ford from hell rounded the corner. I dove into the backseat, tossing the entire contents of my wallet in the passenger seat and told the driver the floor it. It wasn't until we where twenty miles out of the city before I could calm down enough to give the driver directions.

"That'll cost you fifty dollars, sir." The middle-aged woman in the drivers seat sighed, watching me blanch at the price. I grabbed my wallet and feverishly thumbed through the bills. _Twenty, fourty, fourty five, fourty six, fourty seven, fourty eight... that's it._

"How about just fourty-eight? That's all I have." I asked/pleaded, holding the bills out to her.

The plump women gave me a sypethetic look, "I'm afraid not, sir."

I dropped back in my seat, groaning, "Some May day this turned out to be."

The taxi slowed down, letting other cars speed past on the freeway, "You know, I might be just able to make it there if you give me one of those flowers. I've been working all day and haven't been able to get my husband anything."

I looked up, a small smile on my lips as I grabbed the last flower that was left intact, "Well at least sombody will be getting a flower today."

She returned my smile, "You can just put that in the passenger seat. Who where those for anyway?"

I dropped the cluster of baby's breath onto the seat, "My girlfriend, but I was abducted by my ex before I could deliver them."

"Ouch," The driver looked at me through the rearveiw, eyes questioning, "Why don't you just give them to her when you get back? There's still time and you might get a free kiss out of it."

I shook my head, "Nah, I don't think she'll want a bunch of flowers in a fraying wicker basket. I missed my chance."

The driver shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. To be honest, I'd say if she really loved you, she'd love them no matter what."

We drove in scilence for a few minutes, before I finally asked, "Can I change my destonation?"

She smiled, "Sure, where to?"

***

I walked down the long wooded grove, my soiled may basket in one hand and a crumpled card in the other. I had the driver drop me off at the turn-off, hoping the walk might give me just enough time to sort through my thoughts. They where more than likely home already, which didn't worry me, because I kinda hoped that maybe if I gave her the flowers in person, it might seem that less pathetic.

When I reached the house, she was already waiting for me. She patted the empty space next to her on the porch swing as I made my way up the steps.

I sat down, "Let me guess, Alice saw me coming?"

Dani smiled and nodded, "Yeah, but she didn't tell me you came bearing gifts." She motioned to my pathetic excuse for a May basket.

I felt my face heat up, "Um... these are for you."

I handed her the card and dead flowers, preparing myself for the worse as she quickly read the message inside.

She smiled, "Does this mean I get a kiss?"

"What?"

"This is a May Day basket, and I caught you putting it on my doorstep. That means we kiss." She gave me a warm smile, golden eyes shimmering.

I smirked, "Oops. I guess your right. Darn." I lifted my hand to her face in a gentle caress, leaning in slightly, "Just tell me if it becomes too much, alright?"

She leaned in also, and I could feel her cool breath on my lips as she spoke, "I don't think you have to worry about that."

Slowly, oh so slowly, our lips met. Mine soft, warm ones met with her hard, cold ones, but that took nothing from the overall effect. My heart screamed- no, sang - in my chest as what felt like an electric current spraked from my mouth, rocketed down my spine and filled my body with the static charge. I wraped my arms around her, never wanting to let go, for if I did this perfect moment would be over.

But, because of me being a stupid human, I had to breathe.

We broke apart, me gasping for air as she sat there and reached into the tangle of petals and stems. By the time I had enough air, she had managed to pull out a rose. A full, un-damaged, rose.

She slid down, resting her head on my shoulder as she slowly rotated the flower between fingertips. But she wasn't looking at it, she was looking up at me.

She gave me one last kiss on the cheek, "Thank you."

I wrapped my arm around her, "Your welcome." I smiled back, this was definately the best May Day ever.


End file.
